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THE GOLDEN HIND SERIES

Edited by Milton Waldman

D AMPIER

THE GOLDEN HIND SERIES

Volumes fuhlished and
in preparation

DRAKE

JOHN SMITH

HUDSON

RALEIGH

FROBISHER

DAMPIER

MAGEJXAN

HAWKINS

CAPTAIN SCOTT

GRENVILLE

IW'illiam Dampier

CLENNELL WILKINSON

LONDON

JOHN LANE THE BODLET HEAD LTD

Made and rrimfd tn (»rcaf Hufaiti
T. and A. Cun'si aiij.k I.m, Kdinlmuih

PREFACE

O adequate life of Dampier exists.
It is true that during the late
eighteenth and early nineteenth cen-
turies many biographical notices of
him appeared, usually in those mas-
sive volumes of “ collected voyages ”
so dear to our ancestors’ hearts. But
all of these that I have seen (and I cannot have missed
many) consisted, as regards his private life, merely of
those very few statements which he himself has vouch-
safed to us ; and, as regards his adventures, of a
summarized version of his own narrative and those of
his fellow-voyagers.

The first with any claim to originality appeared in the
United Service Journal and Magazine (Parts iii and iv)
in 1837, and has been generally attributed to Rear-
Admiral Smyth, the distinguished writer on naval ques-
tions. Smyth had taken the trouble to look up some of
Dampier’s correspondence ; in dealing with his authori-
ties he had compared the original manuscripts, many
of which are in the Sloane Collection, with the published
books ; and in this way had discovered the barefaced
“ doctoring ” of Ringrose by Hackc, in the interests of
Captain Sharp. Also he had found out when Dampier
died, and had been through the files at Doctors’ Commons

WILLIAM DAMPIER

and discovered his will. In addition to all this, his
own comments and deductions are those of a shrewd
and friendly critic. I am greatly in his debt. But he
made one deplorable error, in denying indignantly that
Dampier had ever been court-martialled. The only
previous references to this unfortunate incident had been
of a vague and general character, and Smyth does not
seem to have taken them seriously enough to make any
inquiry into the matter.

It was left to Professor Sir J. K. Laughton, in his
otherwise rather slight and none too friendly account of
Dampier in the Dkthnnrj of NcHianul Biography, to
supply this deficiency. Mr. Masefield, in his very
valuable notes and appendixes to the new edition of
Dampicr’s works, published by Messrs. Grant Richards
in 1906, dots the i’s and crosses the t’s. He has, more-
over, summarized Fisher’s charges against Dampier,
with Dampier’s answers, and has also quoted at some
length from the correspondence between Dampier and
the Admiralty. But the whole business of the court-
martial may be studied at leisure in the Public Record
Office by anyone sufficiently interested. I have also
found there the Master’s Ix>g of the “ Roebuck,” and
much other interesting matter. No previous writer has
made use of this log, which is often very valuable. It
shows signs of having been in the water, and probably
got a wetting when the “ Roebuck ” was lost ofi" Ascen-
sion Island. The muster-book unfortunately went down
with the ship. Such new information as I have obtained
from the log will be found in the following pages.

The great value of Mr. Masefield’s work lies in the

PREFACE

Vll

timely and well-informed editorial notes with which he
has discreetly peppered Dampier’s pages. After Smyth,
my greatest debt is to him. I have also derived much
pleasure and assistance from Sir Albert Gray’s essay on
Dampier in the Argonaut Press edition of the New
Voyage^ to which I shall refer again later. Mr. N. M.
Penzer’s bibliographical note in the same volume is of
the highest value, and has, I believe, been adopted in
the catalogues of the British Museum. Mr. G. E.
Manwaring has gone out of his way to make many
friendly and helpful suggestions. Finally, I cannot con-
clude without a word of thanks to the Rev. Maurice R.
Bailey, vicar of East Coker, whose kind hospitality and
keen interest in the subject gave me such a pleasant
start upon my journey.

CLENNELL WILKINSON.

CONTENTS

PREFACE

CHAP.

1. ‘^PIRATE AND HYDROGRAPHER ** . . . .

II. WILLIAM DAMPIER SERVES THE KING

III. HE GOES TO THE WEST INDIES . . . .

IV. JOINS THE BUCCANEERS

V. AND SINGES THE KING OF SPAIN’S BEARD .

VI. HE ADVENTURES TO AFRICA AND BACK

VII. AND CIRCUMNAVIGATES THE GLOBE .

VIII, HE MAKES A NAME IN ENGLAND . . . .

IX. HE EXPLORES AUSTRALIA AND NEW GUINEA .

X. HE IS COURT-MARTIALLED BUT GETS ANOTHER

COMMAND

XL HE MAKES HIS LAST VOYAGE . . . .

XII. AND SLIPS HIS CABLE

AUTHORITIES

INDEX

PAGE

III

I3I

^54

iSz

203

234

250

253

ILLUSTRATIONS

Captain William Dampier ..... Frontispiece

From the painting by Thomas Murray in the National
Fortrait Gallery,

Hymerford House, East Coker, Dampier’s Birth-
place Facing page 14

The Battle of the Texel, August iith, 1673 • » ^4

From a colour print lent by Messrs, T. H, Farker,

Panama about 1690 . . . . . . „ „ 72

From the Macpherson Collection,

Moll’s Map of the Middle Part of America . „ „ 86

A Fifth-rater of 1684 . . . . . „ „ 158

From John CharnocFs “ History of Marine Architecture,''

A Page Illustration from Dampier’s “ A New Voyage

round the World ” . . . . . „ „ 170

Reproduced from the 1697 edition.

Map Illustrating the Voyage of H.M.S. “ Roebuck ” „ „ 180

The Island of Juan Fernandez . . . . „ „ 218

Captain Woodes Rogers, with his Son and Daughter,

1729 ...-•-••»?? 234

From the engraving by W, Skelton after the painting by Hogarth,

Note. — The author and publishers are indebted to Messrs. Cassell
& Co. Ltd. for permission to reproduce Thomas Murray’s portrait
of Dampier and Skelton’s engraving of Captain Woodes Rogers
from Captain Rogers’s A Cruising Voyage Round the World ; to
Lt.-Col. J. B. Batten, D.S.O., for permission to reproduce the

WILLIAM DAMPIER

illustration of Hymerford House from his book Historical and Topo-
graphical Collections relating to South Somerset j to Messrs. Martin
Hopkinson Ltd. for permission to reproduce The Island of Juan
Fernandez’’ from their edition of Anson's Voyage Round the World
and to Messrs. Halton and Truscott Smith and the Trustees of the
Macpherson Collection for permission to reproduce Panama about
1690 ” and '*The Battle of the Texcl*’ from Frank C. Bowen's The
Sea : its History and Romance*

WILLIAM DAMPIER

CHAPTER I

“PIRATE AND H YDROGRAPHER ”

HE character to be presented in these
pages is that of one of the great English
explorers — one whose achievements
surpassed those of any rival over a
period of about a hundred years. From
the accession of Charles I to the death
of Queen Anne, it is hard to think of
any English voyages of discovery at all
comparable with Dampier’s, or of any travel record half
as valuable as his. Hakluyt died in i6i6, and in the
same year (it was also the year in which the Dutch
rounded Cape Horn) the little barque “ Discovery ” left
Gravesend on its famous voyage to Baffin’s Bay. But
between that date and Dampier’s death in 1715 —
between the last of the Elizabethans and the great
sailors of the mid-eighteenth century — this one figure
stands out almost alone.

It is not that the English effort ceased entirely during
this period ; except for the break caused by the Civil
War, it was both continuous and successful. But it is
as though the English explorers, moved by some common
impulse, had given up sighing for new worlds to conquer,
and agreed to concentrate upon exploiting and extend-
ing the discoveries already made. And that makes them
rather shadowy figures from our point of view, limping
far behind such gallant adventurers as the Dutchman,
Tasman, or their own countryman, Dampier.

Again, it is not as though the scientific work of the

WILLIAM DAMPIER

geographers and map-makers had been allowed to cease.
On the contrary, throughout the reign of Charles II,
we seem to have been actively preparing, whether con-
sciously or not, for the great effort that was to mark
the middle years of the succeeding century. Shipbuild-
ing design improved, being not a little encouraged by
the intelligent interest taken in the subject by the King.
Navigation was studied to some purpose. For the first
time it became possible to take accurate observations at
sea. And by 1713 that most efficient and industrious
of Royal Commissions, the Board of Longitude, had
begun its sittings in London, and was mightily smoothing
the way for Dampier’s successors. In fact, the whole
atmosphere had changed. But Dampier himself bene-
fited little by all this. He was just too soon. He put
to sea in leaky ships and ill-equipped. He says himself
that the only maps which he possessed of the Pacific
were “ all false.” When he sailed the crazy “ Roebuck ”
to the unknown shores of Australia in 1699, and when
he piloted Woodes Rogers round the world, he did so
with surprisingly few technical advantages over his
Elizabethan predecessors. He had mutinous crews, and
an unfortunate “ past ” of his own, which probably
made it difficult for him to impose his authority on
subordinate officers. Only his natural genius and his
irrepressible spirit of adventure brought him through.

Yet in the face of this record it has been said of
Dampier — and it is implied in everything that is written
of him — that he was “ not formed of the stuff of which
explorers are made.”! There may be some truth in
that, and I do not know that I am much concerned to
deny it. After all, it only makes him more interesting.
Perhaps it is not really so easy to define precisely the
kind of material that goes to make explorers. Certainly
they have differed quite noticeably in the past. It
'^.Chx]i'B.\mt)lm.Englis/i Men of Action. Macmillati: 1925.

“PIRATE AND HYDROGRAPHER” 3

would be difficult, for instance, to imagine two char-
acters more opposed than those of Drake and Raleigh —
or Hawkins and Grenville. And, coming a little nearer
to Dampier’s own time, what greater contrast could
there be than between that mad fellow Coryat, who
preceded him, and the sagacious Captain Cook, who
came after ? There are many different kinds of “ stuff ”
here ; and it may very well be that you cannot say
what constitutes a great explorer, any more than you
can say what constitutes a great artist, except by looking
at the results.

But Dampier was undoubtedly unusual. He has no
counterpart in the whole history of English exploration.
He lacked so conspicuously some of the most obvious
characteristics which we expect to find in explorers, and
without which it seems impossible that they should
succeed. You have only to look at his portrait. It was
painted by Thomas Murray, and has become increasingly
popular in black and white reproductions during recent
years. Some months ,ago, a very striking advertising
poster^ was displayed on the London hoardings, in
which were grouped together figures representing most
of the great English explorers from the Elizabethans to
the present day. Dampier, of course, was among them ;
and anyone who took the trouble to study that poster
will surely agree that it was quite startling to come upon
this dark, unhappy, brooding face amid the bluff, open,
confident countenances of the other great discoverers of
our Empire.

The original hangs in the National Portrait Gallery ;
and, if it is not one of the most important works of art
there, it is certainly one of the most interesting from the
psychological point of view. It depicts a thin, slightly-
built man in middle life, not so dark as the black and
white prints would suggest — ^no swarthy gipsy — but a
^ Published by the Empire Marketing Board.

WILLIAM DAMPIER

man of ruddy complexion with brown (not black) hair
and strangely dark blue eyes. There is a beak of a nose,
a firm, round chin, and a jutting underlip, from which
his critics no doubt deduced obstinacy and his friends
strength. But the chief impression that one carries away
is of a rather pathetic, battered look in his large eyes, as
of one who had started out in life with high i-omantic
ideals and got cruelly mauled by the world. It is a
fascinating, appealing, baffling portrait. Plainly the
artist, Murray, was keenly interested in his subject, for
we do not find this quality in his other work. And
underneath the portrait is the simple legend : “ Captain
William Dampier : Pirate and Hydrographer.” It is as
though we were to describe a man as “ John Smith,
burglar and mathematician,” or “ Tom Jones, bush-
ranger and astronomer.” The description is not quite
fair to Dampier, for, though he sailed with the buccaneers,
that was a very different thing from turning pirate ; but
the legend does at any rate give the measure of his
astonishing versatility.

As for his faults, they are here written clearly in his
face for all to see. We can perceive a sort of petulant
discontent with life, and more than a hint of temper.
On the other hand, the face is strong and purposeful,
without being really commanding. I'here is not quite
enough of the drill-sergeant here. It is plain from his
record that Dampier did not understand how to manage
men. He had not the habit of command. His only
idea of keeping his crew in order was to swear at them.
Nor can we forget that when he returned from Australia,
a court-martial found him to be “ not a fit person to be
employed as commander of any of his Majesty’s ships ” —
though it is, perhaps, equally important to remember
that he was, as a matter of fact, given another command
within the year 1 Discipline in those days was not the
simple matter that it is now. If punishments were

“PIRATE AND HYDROGRAPHER” 5

severe, rules were less stereotyped : there was the recog-
nized custom of consulting subordinates before taking
big decisions ; and, on those long voyages, there was a
readiness on the part of the ship’s company to engage
in intrigues against their superiors, which would bring
swift retribution to-day. Drake had to hang a man for
mutiny ; John Smith was nearly hanged for it himself ;
Shelvocke, who was Dampier’s contemporary (and also
circumnavigated the globe) did not better but worse
than he.

Yet I do not find it easy to explain this weakness in
Dampier. It has been suggested already that his
buccaneering past may have been against him, when
in command of the King’s ships. But to know that
your captain was an old buccaneer, who had sailed with
Sharp and Sawkins, seems no reason for defying him
on his own quarter-deck. Rather the contrary ! It
may possibly have led Dampier’s people to under-
estimate his intelligence and distrust his intentions —
no doubt a bad enough thing on a ship — but it is no
adequate explanation of his failure as a disciplinarian.

Sir Albert Gray, in the masterly little essay on Dampier
which he has contributed to a recent edition of A New
V oyage Round the W orld^ suggests that though Dampier
was with the buccaneers he was never of them ; that
he neither sought nor desired high command in so
disreputable a profession ; that this Somerset farmer’s
son, brought up as a shopkeeper, was, in fact, too much
of a gentleman. It is a penetrating remark. Dampier
never seems to have made any money out of these
voyages ; nor out of any voyage except his last — ^which
not he, but Woodes Rogers, commanded. He had
other ideals. Alone among his associates, he was more

^ A New Foyage Round the World. By William Dampier. With an
Introduction by Sir Albert Gray, K.C.B., K.C., President of the Hakluyt
Society. Argonaut Press. London: 1927.

WILLIAM DAMPIER

interested in the countries they saw than in the amount
of money they could make out of them. The fact that
his name is hardly mentioned by those of his early
buccaneering companions who have left us accounts of
their adventures, may not unreasonably be attributed to
this detached attitude of his.

He had, moreover, a natural modesty, still more
unusual in such company. We see it everywhere in
his writings. And in his appearance, as we have just
noted, there was little of the swashbuckler. He was
not, for instance, the kind of man to cut a figure in
London society, and we shall gather nothing of his
personality in private life from a study of contemporary
memoirs. But there is one invaluable reference by the
diarist, John Evelyn, which cannot be omitted from any
character sketch of Dampier. Evelyn was evidently
aware of the charges of violence and bad language
brought against Dampier by his enemies. Yet when he
met him at dinner at the house of Samuel Pepys, the
diarist, he found him “a more modest man than one
would imagine by relation of the crew he had assorted
with.” ^ What interests us here is that the shrewd and
discriminating Mr. Pepys should have thought well
enough of him to invite him to dinner with his old
friend, Evelyn ; and that a great gentleman like John
Evelyn should have been so pleasantly surprised by his
modest address. If only Pepys’s eyes had not failed
him thirty years before, we might even have had one of
his own characteristic comments upon this very excep-
tional buccaneer.

The truth is that it is just this weakness — if we must
call it a weakness — in Dampier’s character that makes
him so^ attractive. It is more than a mere accident of a
quiet, intellectual young fellow finding himself serving
with die buccaneers. Indeed it was no accident.
Dampier went to sea at an early age, against the wishes

“PIRATE AND HYDROGRAPHER” 7

of his father, because no other way of life would serve
him. He has given us his own account of the matter,
and it requires no stretch of the imagination to picture
him struggling miserably with his Latin books in that
Somerset school, while all his heart was far away on the
Spanish Main.

What schoolboy would have felt otherwise in those
great days ? The wonder is that they did not all run
away to sea ! Even to-day there is more of the world
undiscovered than most people are aware of ; but it is
a mere odd corner or two, compared with the wide
prospect which offered itself to adventurous youth in the
latter part of the seventeenth century. Half the earth
and sea lay open to their endeavour. Comparatively
few of the islands of the Pacific had been discovered ;
Africa had only been nibbled at ; great tracts of land
were imagined where in reality there was only sea ; it
was not even known that Australia was a continent.
Dampier, over his Latin books, may well have dreamed
of a time when his name would appear on every map —
as it does to-day. That, I think, is the real clue to his
character. He was not by nature a man of action, but
an artist and a dreamer. He was a romantic schoolboy
whose dreams came true — came true because he made
them. His great successor, James Cook, ran away to
sea in his early teens. Cook, with his commanding
presence and tougher fibre, had every qualification for
the part. Dampier had only his dreams. Yet he got
to Australia just the same — ^we recall that jutting under-
lip ! — and it was only by a chance that he missed being
acclaimed its true discoverer instead of Cook.

This is no fantastic theory of Dampier’s character,
based upon the few words he has written about his early
life. As we follow the story of his career, we shall find
evidence of it at every turn : of his restless longing for
adventure, his insatiable appetite for strange sights, of

WILLIAM DAMPIER

the curiosity — that is the word — which has been the
inspiration of all great travel since the world began. It
is the one undisputed fact about him. He left Captain
Edward Davis to go with Swan in 1685, “not from
any dislike to my old captain, but to get some know-
ledge of the northern parts of this Continent of Mexico,”
and because Swan intended eventually to pass over for
the East Indies, “ which was always very agreeable to
my inclinations.” He left Swan for similar reasons in
the following year, “ knowing that the further we went,
the more knowledge and experience I should get, which
was the main thing I regarded.” He only joined the
buccaneers “ more to indulge my curiosity than to get
wealth.” Elsewhere there are contradictions. One
hostile writer will assert that Dampier’s crew were in
the habit of calling him a coward to his face ; and a
few pages later the same critic will complain that he was
such a bully that he “ would fly out in a passion ” if
anyone even ventured to differ from him. But in regard
to his inspiration, there seems to be no doubt. He was
no sooner back in England than he began thinking of
his next voyage. That was the spirit that .sustained
him. The fact that his writings are .so extraordinarily
readable to-day is due, not only to his natural literary
gift, of which he was quite unaware, but to this same
passionate interest in the world and its inhabitants. The
eager notes which he jotted down about everything he
saw could have been written by no one else. Dampier
may not have been a born leader of men ; but he was,
at any rate, a born traveller, and a born travel-writer.

Such was the character of the man whose career we
are about to study. The duty of his biographer is, as I
understand it, simply to present him W'holc — to state
the facts-— without any attempt to judge him by twentieth-
century standards, or to point the ' moral of his tale.
Dampier is not up for judgment here. He is not before

“PIRATE AND HYDROGRAPHER”

“ the bar of history.” Indeed — ^it has been said before,
but cannot be said too often — history is not a bar in
the sense of being a police-court. It would be more
reasonable to describe it as a bar in the sense of being
a place where men assemble together to tell stories of
those who have gone before, and drink their healths,
perhaps ; but not to judge them. In such an atmo-
sphere, Captain William Dampier, “ pirate and hydro-
grapher,” would be at his ease. Yet because he was
so human, we may find a special pleasure in his story.
For with all his limitations, and in the absence (as it
turned out) of any particular flair for the business of
exploring, he did always keep his goal in front of him,
and he did succeed in doing just those things which so
many of us have longed to do and have not had the
pluck even to attempt.

It is difficult to see how there can be a dull page in
this book, even in the hands of the clumsiest editor.
For, except in the first few chapters, where I have
endeavoured to rewrite a part of Dampier’s life which
has never been fully dealt with before, editing is really
all that has been required. Dampier always thought
his story more important than himself — ^he says so, over
and over again — ^and his present biographer very humbly
agrees. I have therefore put the story first and left
the man to take care of himself. It is the method he
would have preferred. The bare facts of his amazing
career make the best commentary on his character. And
the story itself is such a good one, so prodigal of incident,
so brightly coloured with effects of light and shade,
seen in every part of the globe, that it is hard to believe
it can have been made to appear uninteresting.

CHAPTER II

WILLIAM DAMPIER SERVES
THE KING

LLIAM DAMPIER was born in the
village of East Coker, near Yeovil,
in Somersetshire, in the year 165-,
but there, immediately, our troubles
begin.

There is a certain prejudice nowa-
days against the discussion of such
things as dates and birthdays. They
are regarded as part of the dismal paraphernalia of
Professor Dry-as-dust, as repulsive and inexplicable to
the general public as footnotes, or even genealogical
tables. Yet history is truly described in the dictionary
as “ a narration of facts,” and we know very well in our
hearts that all the fun and romance of it are gone unless
we can be sure that it is accurate. Truth usually makes
a better story than fiction. To tell any audience that
the anecdote you are about to relate happens to be a
true one is the surest way of gaining attention. But we
shall not get that full flavour of the true story, which
gives it its peculiar and delightful character, unless we
are certain that it is true. In short, if we are going
to mention the date of Dampier’s birth at all, we might
as well get it right.

Every authority that I have consulted gives 1652 as
the year. There seems to be good reason to suppose
that the correct date is 1651. If it may be said without
10

WILLIAM DAMPIER SERVES THE KING ii

offence, the biographers have apparently followed one
another blindly in a sort of game of “ Follow-my-leader,”
quoting a date which probably has its origin in one or
other of the brief biographical sketches which appeared
in the course of the eighteenth century. Our real
authorities are but two — Dampier’s own reference to the
subject, in the second volume of his F oyages ; and the
parish register of the village of East Coker. Dampier
was one of the most modest explorers that ever sailed
the seas, and his own description of his early days is
characteristically brief. His statement of his age at the
beginning of one of his early voyages is useful, but does
not enable us to decide definitely as between 1652 and
1651, in fixing the year of his birth.

The parish register of East Coker, on the other hand,
is as fascinating and eloquent a work as it has ever been
my good fortune to read. And it has, of course, the
virtue of precision. Our immediate concern is with the
baptisms, and of these we have to decide between two
entries : September 5th, 1651, William Dampier, son
of George and Ann ; and June 8th, 1652, William
Dampier, son of William and Joan. It has been assumed,
on I know not what grounds, that the latter is our man.
But Dampier, in his writings, makes allusion to his
“ brothers ” at East Coker, and also to his “ brother,”
and in later life he refers frequently to his “ brother
George.” Now William, the son of William and Joan,
had no brothers, according to the register ; whereas
William, the son of George and Ann, had a brother
(only one, it is true) born in 1648, whose name was
George. Dampier mentions that when he was home
from his earlier voyages he would stay with his family
(once he says his “ friends ”) in East Coker, and it is
reasonable to suppose that the family would be repre-
sented by this George, who, as the elder brother, would
naturally have carried on the farm which the Dampiers

WILLIAM DAMPIER

held from the local squire, Colonel Helyar — of whom
more hereafter. It is true that George is the only
brother mentioned in the register. It is true, too, that
we find no record of the death of George the elder, and
that the death of Ann (his “ widow ”) took place in
October, 1665, and not in 1668, the year mentioned
by Sir J. K. Laughton (in the Dictionary of National
Biography), Smyth and others as that in which Dampier’s
mother died. I suggest, however, that these authorities
are wrong. As a matter of fact, there is no record at
East Coker of the death of any Dampier, male or female,
in 1668. William, the son of George and Ann, had at
any rate one brother (which is more than we can say
for the rival), and of the right name too ; and the fact
that Ann, at her death, was referred to as a “ widow ”
proves that the elder George was already dead, and fits
in with Dampier’s statement in his Voyages that his
parents died in his youth. On the face of it, therefore,
the evidence of the parish register favours the George-
Ann parentage of 1651.

There is only one thing more to say about this parish
register. The baptisms we are concerned with were
not, of course, performed by the regular Church of
England parson of the parish, but by some Ihiritan
interloper of the Commonwealth period — in point of fact
by one Henry Cackney, if I read his signature aright.
Henry seems to have been a man of character, and it is
amusing to note the dramatic effect of his entry upon
the register. About a year after the execution of King
Charles I, the small, neat, educated handwriting of the
vicar, the Reverend Richard Gore, suddenly disappears,
and we get in its place a bold scrawl, sprawling all over
the pages. The entries become hurried, incomplete, not
always even in chronological order. After October 20th,
1653, there occurs the following memorandum : “ The
Old Register Eooke of East Coker was fild of names in

WILLIAM DAMPIER SERVES THE KING 13

the yeare of our Lord God 1 654 and a nother made that
same yeare by me Henry Cackney. Anno Dom. 1 654.”
By then, unfortunately, the damage had been done, so
far as the Dampiers are concerned. For it is precisely
in 1652 (the commonly accepted year of our William’s
birth) that we find half a page that has apparently been
trampled on, or rubbed over with a fiat iron, and is almost
illegible. It would perhaps be unfair to blame the
God-fearing Henry personally for this ; but, politics and
religion apart, I could wish that another memorandum
which follows closely after it had come only ten years
sooner. It reads : “ Memorandum that Mr. Richard
Gore Vicar of Coker did reade the Articles of the Church
of England on the twentieth day of October Anno
Domini 1661.” Thereafter we have only Mr. Gore’s
careful script.^ But in the meantime — and this is im-
portant for our purpose — it is to be noted that William
Dampier, the son of George and Ann, who was born in
1651, might very well have had another brother born
in the period covered by the illegible page of 1652 ;
whereas this is impossible in the case of William, the
son of William and Joan, since he himself was born in
June of that same year. I therefore conclude that
William Dampier, the explorer, was baptized at East
Coker on the 5th September 1651, being the son of
George Dampier and Ann, his wife.^

^ It is fair to add that a little later, between 1668 and 1678, there
is a blank of ten years, the intervening space being occupied by a clumsy
drawing of a man and some horses and cows, apparently executed by an
irreverently-minded child. But Mr. Richard Gore was dead by then.
His dissenting rival, Cackney, had died as early as 1664 ; the triumph
of the malignants ” at the Restoration was evidently too much for
him.

2 As to her being his wife there is, happily, no doubt. “ From his
wife,’’ says the register proudly. Alas, that it should be thought a
matter for boasting ! — but the most casual glance at this village record
shows the reason why.

1 +

WILLIAM DAMPIER

East Coker is an altogether charming village, and
Dampier must often have seen it (as I did) on a bright
spring morning, with its lilac trees blossoming into every
shade of mauve and violet round the old, grey, thatched
cottages. Many, if not most, of the present houses
must have been standing in Dampier’s time. In the
church a modern brass now commemorates his exploits ;
but little else is altered, and over the old oak door there
is still a hatchment with the Royal Arms, set up in 1 660
to celebrate the Restoration, which must, when its
colours were bright and new, have been an object of
delight to his childish eyes. They have few traditions
of him in the village : after all, he was there only for
comparatively brief periods, and his family has long
since disappeared. But they will show you the house
where he is said to have been born — Hymerford House,
a typical mediaeval building of perhaps the fifteenth
century, of which the. great hall and the kitchens beyond
the screen at one end have been interfered with scarcely
at all. _ As usually happens, the hall has been divided
inside into two stories, so that the tops of the old
mullioned windows now give light to the passages on
the floor above ; but the outside of the house is still so
mellow and old and English that it is difficult to imagine
even the wildest boy wanting to run away from it to sea.
Hymerford House is a farm-house now (they called it
Bridge Farm till a year or two ago, but the present
occupant has reverted to the older name), and if Dampier
was born there it must have served the same purpose in
1651, for his father was a tenant farmer — that we know.
The Dampiers (or, as it was occasionally written,
Dampeeries) seem to have been fairly substantial folk ;
but what was the size and distribution of the family,
and what became of them — ^whether, for instance, that
Dr. Dampier who was promoted by George III to the
Deanery of Rochester in 178a, and whose son was made

HYMERFORD HOUSE, EAST COKER, DAMPIER’s BIRTHPLACE

WILLIAM DAMPIER SERVES THE KING 15

Bishop of Ely, came originally from East Coker, I am
unable to say. Nor does it matter much.

When young William Dampier reached school age,
he suffered the fate of most small boys. His bio-
graphers have assumed that he was put to school at
Yeovil ; but there is a grammar school of an ancient
foundation at the neighbouring Crewkerne, and it is at
least equally likely that he was sent there. We do not
know. All the evidence that we possess is contained
in his own brief and almost apologetic reference to his
schooldays referred to above. In it he says : “ My
friends did not originally design me for the sea, but
bred me at school till I came to years fit for a trade.
But upon the death of my father and mother, they who
had the disposal of me took other measures ; and having
remov’d me from the Latine School to learn Writing
and Arithmetick, they soon after placed me with a
Master of a Ship at Weymouth, complying with the
inclinations I had very early of seeing the World.”

It will be observed that his guardians, whoever they
were, only took the rather strong step of sending him
to sea, instead of to a trade, in compliance with his own
wishes. It is a plain case of a schoolboy’s dream of
travel and adventure — not more romantic, nor less so,
than a thousand others.

With this Weymouth skipper, young Dampier made
a short voyage to France. He returned with his appetite
for travel considerably stimulated, and almost immedi-
ately set out again upon his first long voyage — a trip
to Newfoundland. He was now, as he tells us, “ about
eighteen years of age,” his parents had been dead for
years, and he was feeling well able to look after himself.
Yet the voyage to Newfoundland was a failure. It
occupied the whole of one summer. But Dampier was
so horribly “ pinched ” by the rigour of that cold climate
that he swore that he would never sail so far North

WILLIAM DAMPIER

again — and he kept his word. Indeed it came near to
cooling his ardour for travel altogether. He returned
to his friends at East Coker — no doubt to his brother
George, who would now be a man of twenty-one or
twenty-two — and he tells us of this with an air of finality
which suggests that he fully intended to stay there.

But he could not sit quiet ; the thing was in his
blood ; and presently he began to pay flitting visits to
London. And there, of course — since the whole world
is, happily, not so cold as Newfoundland — he presently
got an offer of what he calls a “ warm voyage ” (and a
long one too) “ both which I always desired,” and was
off to sea again.

This time he entered himself aboard an outward-
bound East Indiaman, the “ John and Martha ” of
London (Captain Earning), and was employed before
the mast — ^for his apprenticeship days were over, and he
was now an able seaman. Of this third voyage, like
the first and second, we know very little. Dampicr’s
East Indiaman would be a vessel of perhaps six hundred
tons burthen.’- She would carry a crew of about two
hundred men and would be heavily armed. It is true
that merchantmen of this period enjoyed a security at
sea such as the Elizabethans had never known. Crom-
well had suppressed the Algerian pirates (after cutting
off the King’s head for trying to raise “ ship money "
for the same purpose !), and had made the Mediter-
ranean safe for our shipping. I'he capture of Jamaica
had given our trade a fillip in the West. Spain had her
tail down ; the Portuguese were no longer dangerous
in India and the East. But, alas, we live in an envious

^ Fifty years before this date, the East India merchants had supplied
themselves with a new fleet of four ships of 650, 500, 300 and zoo tons
respectively. Some of these may still have been afloat when Dampicr
went to sea ; in any case, they give a rough clue to the probable tonnage
of the “ John and Martha.”

WILLIAM DAMPIER SERVES THE KING tj

world ! No sooner had our ancestors got rid of the
rivalry of the “ cruel Spaniard ” and the “ treacherous
Portingall ” than another trade competitor arrived upon
the scene — ^the equally cruel (and, if we may believe
the English chroniclers, equally treacherous) “ Hol-
lander.” The first Dutch war broke out in the year
after Dampier’s birth. Before he died he was to see
the Dutch, in their turn, fall behind in the race, and
become our allies against our next hated rival, France.

In the meantime, however, he was brought up in an
anti-Dutch atmosphere. When he sailed on the “ John
and Martha ” for the Dutch Spice Islands, there were
old sailormen in the inns of Weymouth and London
who could remember the so-called “ Massacre ” of
Amboina in 1623, when the Dutch arrested all the
Englishmen at one of the East India Company’s fac-
tories, tortured them cruelly, and upon the unwilling
evidence thus obtained publicly executed ten of them
for conspiracy, with an indecent haste and a disregard
of justice which English seamen would not easily forget.
Bickerings had continued ever since, whether the two
nations happened to be officially at war or at peace.
Hence the guns on board the “ John and Martha.”

Captain Earning, on his owners’ instructions, sailed
direct for the port of Bantam, in the Dutch island of
Java. He made a good passage, and stayed at Bantam
for about two months, during which time he and his
crew managed to keep out of trouble with the local
authorities. He returned to England in little over a
year, having called at only two intermediate ports — St.
lago in the Cape Verde Islands on the way out, and
Ascension Island on the return journey. Dampier con-
fesses regretfully that he kept no journal of this voyage,
and there will be few of his readers to-day who do not
share that regret. On the other hand, he learnt a great
deal about practical navigation, a subject in which he

William dampier

was eventually to excel all his contemjjoraries. How
a seaman serving before the mast found time and oppor-
tunity for such studies is not easy to see ; but it is one
of the most striking features of Dampier’s career that
he never ceased to “ improve himself” in this way — not
even when serving among the buccaneers.

Dampier returned to England at a somewhat critical
moment in his country’s history. He says: “We
arrived at Plymouth about two months before Sir Robert
Holmes went out to fall upon the Dutch Smyrna fleet.”
This dates his arrival ; because Holmes set sail on that
indefensible ^ and, as it turned out, unsuccessful raid on
the 23rd March 167a. The “John and Martha”
must therefore have arrived about February. Dampier
went home to East Coker, and stayed with his brother
George, who was probably still at Hymerford House.
He remained there taking his ease, watching the lilac
trees bloom and fade, till spring turned to summer, and
autumn to winter, by which time, as he tells us, he was
once more “ weary of staying a-shore.” But, when he
began looking out for another ship, he found the situa-
tion altogether altered. The Second Dutch War had
broken out — not upon the declaration of the Dutch, as
one might have expected after Holmes’s exploit, hut
upon that of the King of England — and the rival fleets
were preparing to put to sea. For a young man of
twenty-one in search of adventure there seemed only
one course to pursue, and Dampier took it. He “ listed,”
as he calls it, on one of the King’s ships, the “ Royal
Prince,” commanded by Sir Edward Spragge.

It is necessary here to say a word about the naval
situation. The great battle of Sole Bay (or Southwold)
between the English and French on the one side and
the Dutch on the other, had been fought in the previous
summer while Dampier was still resting on his brother’s
The two countries were still officially at peace.

WILLIAM DAMPIER SERVES THE KING 19

farm. The Duke of York (afterwards James II), who
commanded the allied fleet, had shown creditable sea-
manship, and was not responsible for the indecisive
result. For that the blame must rest chiefly upon the
French, whose Admiral, D’Estr^es, went off on a different
tack at the critical moment, thus separating the allies’
fleet, and then allowed himself to be “ held ” by a small
Dutch detachment while the main battle was being
fought between the British and Dutch. His conduct in
the affair gave rise to the strong suspicion that he was
under orders from Paris not to do more than he could
help to assist a nominal ally in whom the French
Grovernment already began to perceive a future enemy.
But between Sole Bay and the renewal of fighting in the
following year, the Test Act had been passed, and the
Duke of York had been obliged to give up his com-
mand — ^not because he was incompetent, but simply
because he was a Roman Catholic. Rupert had taken
his place, amid loud popular cheers for “ the Protestant
Prince.” Rupert was the more experienced naval com-
mander of the two, but in the forthcoming operations
he certainly did no better than the Duke, and in par-
ticular showed little of that dash which characterized his
cavalry tactics on land.

The French fleet, which was preparing to join ours,
was still commanded by D’Estr^es, in spite of (or as a
reward for) his conduct at Sole Bay. The great De
Ruyter again commanded the Dutch. On shore in
Holland there had been changes. The two De Witts,
the Republican leaders, had been murdered, and the
Prince of Orange (afterwards William III of England)
was now Captain-General and Admiral of the United
Provinces, which gave him the supreme direction of the
war. Happily for Holland, however, he did not take
from De Ruyter the command of the fleet. Finally,
there was a force of 6000 English troops at Yarmouth,

WILLIAM DAMPIER

waiting to be embarked for Holland, if wc should succeed
in eliminating De Ruyter’s ships.

De Ruyter had about fifty-five ships of the line, as
against fifty-four English and twenty-seven French. In
these circumstances, he adopted a policy which may be
described as one of active defence. It was decided that
the Dutch fleet “ should be posted in the passage of
Schooneveldt, or a little farther south towards Ostend,
to observe the enemy, and if attacked, or seeing the
enemy’s fleet disposed to make a descent upon the shores
of the United Provinces, should resist vigorously by
opposing his designs and destroying his ships.” ^ This
was the Dutch strategy. The English policy, on the
other hand, may be described, in the words of a modern
statesman, as that of “ digging them out like rats.”

But first, at the end of April, before he finally settled
down to the defensive, De Ruyter made a spirited sally,
with the object of blocking the mouth of the Thames by
sinking ships in the fairway. On May and, 1673,
was off the Thames, with his “ sinkers ” (as the English
called them) ready to put his plan into operation. But
a thick fog kept him inactive, and when it suddenly
lifted on May 4th, he saw Rupert’s fleet waiting for
him, lying off the Middle Ground. De Ruyter at once
refused action, and sailed back to Holland with his
“sinkers.” On the 20th May, Rupert followed
him.

Dampier, as we have seen, was serving on board the
“ Royal Prince.” We are not to visualize one of those
clumsy “ overbuilt ” Elizabethan warships. Naval archi-
tecture had greatly improved since Charles I’s “ Royal
Sovereign ” (built for him in 1637 by Phineas Pett) had
inaugurated a new and better school of ship construc-
tion. The Dutch, and afterwards the French, were,
generally speaking, our equals in design ; but the
' Brandt : Life of De Ruyter, quoted by Mahan.

WILLIAM DAMPIER SERVES THE KING ai

superiority of English oak over other European timbers,
and the still more marked superiority of English sea-
men, gave us two enormous advantages. Phineas Pett,
when he built the old “Prince Royal” in i6io, had
been the first to abandon the high beak, or prow, and
the square buttock, or tuck. At the end of the seven-
teenth century, the Dutch and French still had square
tucks, but in English ships they were rounded. The
raised stern, which gave to Elizabethan warships an
appearance of toppling forward on their noses, was
reduced in height by English, Dutch and French de-
signers alike, and was built in such a way as to conform
with the general sweep of the ship’s lines. It was no
longer (nor was the forecastle) an irrelevant excrescence
upon the deck of the ship. Indeed, the general appear-
ance of a warship of 1673 was surprisingly like that of
one of Nelson’s vessels, and surprisingly different from
Drake’s.

The men, happily, were the same. Admiral Mahan
quotes the remark of a French critic, Chabaud-Arnault,
who writes that “ the undeniable superiority of Ruyter
in experience and genius could not compensate for the
weakness or incapacity of part of the Dutch officers and
the manifest inferiority of the men under their orders.”
Yet the amazing fact is that a large proportion — probably
most — of the English crews were composed of pressed
men. The captain of the “ Royal Prince ” found it as
difficult to collect his crew as Nelson did on the
“ Victory ” ! Volunteers like Dampier were probably in
a minority. Pepys tells us that in 1665, when the Fleet
was in harbour, the Duke of York had to send for
soldiers “ to go keep pressmen on board our ships.”
He twice mentions the “ mutinous ” spirit of the men,
which is not surprising when we consider how often the
pay of these poor conscripts was in arrears. Pepys, as
an Admiralty official, sometimes found it impossible to

WILLIAM DAMPIER

work at his office, “ because of the horrible crowd and
lamentable moan of the poor seamen, that lie starving
on the streets for lack of money, which do trouble and
perplex me to the heart ; and more at noon, when we
were to go through them, for then above a whole hundred
of them followed us, some cursing, some swearing, some
praying to us.” Dampier, however, had made his bed,
and there is nothing in his writings to show that he did
not willingly lie upon it.

His immediate commander. Sir Edward Spragge, of
the “ Royal Prince,” was quite a character in his way.
A turbulent, intriguing, hard-living, recklessly courage-
ous leader of the Cavalier type, his personality seems to
have made a considerable impression upon all who came
into contact with him. Pepys met him at dinner at Sir
William Penn’s, and found him “ a meriy man that sang
a pleasant song pleasantly.” Pepys would forgive much
to a boon companion who could also sing ; but unfor-
tunately Spragge was Prince Rupert’s favourite, and
used his influence there with characteristic indiscretion ;
whereas Pepys was always a Duke’s man. In the end,
the diarist came to distrust Spragge’s judgment, and
even his honesty. It is clear, however, that he was a
very popular commander on board the ” Royal Prince.” ^

Rupert, then, followed De Ruyter, to the Dutch coast,
where he was sheltering in the Schooneveldt. The idea
was to send forward a detached squadron, with fire ships,
to attempt to draw him out. It was a dangerous game
to play with De Ruyter. Choosing his moment, he
sallied out vigorously, and Rupert’s leading squadron
was rather badly mauled. De Ruyter withdrew before
the main body could come up. It is amusing to note
that on this occasion the French, under D’Estr^es, were

^ It is a coincidence, perhaps worth noting, that the previous com-
mander of the “ Royal Prince ” was Pepys’s friend. Lord Sandwich,
who was killed on board of her at Sole Bay.

WILLIAM DAMPIER SERVES THE KING 23

placed in the centre so that they could not sheer ofF,
and that, finding themselves in this position, they stoutly
resisted the Dutch attack. After De Ruyter’s retire-
ment, Rupert held his ground and maintained a blockade
of the Dutch coast. It appears that Spragge disapproved
of the position of the allied fleet, and wanted the Prince
to alter it, but Rupert refused. On June 4th De Ruyter
made another sally. Again he was too weak to press
home his attack ; but this time he did enough damage
to cause Rupert to return to England to refit. Another
reason for the return may have been that the transports
were not yet ready for the troops on shore.

At any rate, the Fleet did not put to sea again till
July 22nd. Once more they made for the coast of
Holland, and about August 9th Dampier was taken ill,
and was “ put on board a hospital ship.” The very
fact that there were hospital ships in attendance on the
Fleet seems to show that Pepys’s well-known reference
to “ this confounded business ” of what to do with the
wounded did not indicate quite such a state of unpre-
paredness as might be supposed. Dampier was well
out of the ensuing engagement, commonly known as
the Battle of the Texel. He tells us, however, that he
watched it from the deck of the hospital ship.

Seen thus, at a safe distance, it must have been a fine
and inspiring sight. The whole panorama of the battle,
just as Dampier saw it, may be studied in the large
coloured maps — or rather pictures — done by contempo-
rary artists, and now in the possession of the Earl of
Dartmouth. Reproductions of these spirited works of
art, with Sir Julian Corbett’s editorial notes, are to be
found in the British Museum.^ The battle began about

^ Sir Julian Corbett thinks that these drawings are “ designs prepared
by a tapestry draughtsman from bird’s-eye views specially drawn by
William Van der Velde from his original sketches, after they had been
corrected bj^ officers who were present at the engagement.” Some pf

WILLIAM DAMPIER

seven or eight in the morning of August i ith. As the
hostile fleets approached each other, it was seen that
Tromp, who commanded the Dutch right, was making
a dead set at Spragge, who, as Admiral of the Blue, was
in command of the English left, or rear. They were
old enemies, having been “ opposite numbers ” before
now. Accordingly when Spragge saw Tromp heading
for him, he promptly hove to. He has been severely
criticized for this action, the effect of which, of course,
was to hold back the Blue Squadron and thus divide
the English Fleet in two. (D’Estrtlcs, it should be
added, was far on ahead with the extreme right and
managed once more to keep out of the fighting alto-
gether !) Spragge’s officers in their report of the battle
after his death, offered a number of technical (and not
very convincing) reasons for his action ; but there seems
to be no doubt that he waited for Tromp in a purely
sporting spirit. Among the last words that he wrote in
his journal on the night before the battle were : “ Tromp
is now in the rear (or right) ... he will, I hope, fall
to my share in the Blue Squadron to-morrow.” He
always referred to Tromp as his “ consort.” Anyhow,
the result of his action was that a long and stationary
duel took place between the ” Royal Prince ” and
Tromp, with the other vessels of their respective
squadrons joining in ; while the vans, under Rupert
and De Ruyter, gradually drew farther and farther away.
And it was probably this separation of the battle into
two parts, even more than the defection of the French,
which deprived Rupert of victory.

Dampier must have watched the duel with consider-
able excitement from the decks of his hospital ship. It
was an Homeric contest (indeed it would technically,
perhaps, have been better placed in the Iliad than in’ a

them ^0 depict the two earlier sea-fights (referred to above) at which
Dampier was present.

THE BATTLE OF THE TEXEL, AUGUST IITH, 167

WILLIAM DAMPIER SERVES THE KING 25

scientific modern sea-fight) and Dampier’s shipmates
seem to have done well. “ For three hours (says an
eye-witness) they lay braving one another with their
topsails to the mast : Tromp was well seconded by
several stout ships, from whence a gun was not fired at
anybody but Sir Edward (i.e. his ship) as long as they
could bring any to bear.” In the end, the “ Royal
Prince ” was completely disabled, and Tromp’s “ Golden
Lion ” was in little better case. In the Dartmouth
pictures, we see them both drifting out of the fighting
line, like birds with broken wings. Spragge made a
desperate attempt to get back at Tromp about 10 a.m.,
but just then both his main mast and mizzen went by the
board ; and, seeing that nothing could be done with
the shattered “ Royal Prince,” he shifted his flag to the
” St. George ” and afterwards to the “ Michael.” Tromp
and several other Dutchmen then surrounded the “ Royal
Prince,” like vultures round a corpse ; but Dampier’s
shipmates again put up a great fight (“ few finer defences
of a disabled ship are on record,” says Sir Julian
Corbett) ; and presently Vice-Admiral Kempthorn, and
after him Lord Ossory, intervened with their divisions
to save the “ Royal Prince ” from capture. Eventually,
in the evening, she was -safely towed out of the
battle.

Spragge was killed about 7 p.m., while shifting his
flag yet again — ^this time to the “ Royal Charles.” He
had the flag with him in a small boat, and when they
pointed out to him that the Dutch would probably see
it, and that it would be safer to go on board a frigate,
he “ scorned to be governed by arguments of fear.”
The Dutch did see it. They opened fire on the boat,
and sank it ; and when the gallant Spragge was picked
up out of the water he was found to be dead. We are
told that he could not swim ; but his lieutenant and
coxswain had held him up by the arms, and it is not

WILLIAM DAMPIER

dear whether his death was due to drowning or the
enemy’s fire.

So ended this confused and unsatisfactory Battle of
the Texel, in which neither side lost a single ship and
both claimed the victory. Dampier was put ashore at
Harwich, with the rest of the sick and wounded, and
“ having languished a great while ” in hospital, he went
home once again to his brother to recover his health.

CHAPTER III

HE GOES TO THE WEST INDIES

BOUT this time — either just before or
just after William Dampier’s return
from the Dutch War — ^his elder brother
George moved from East Coker to a
neighbouring estate, presumably that
“ Porton, near Breadport, Dorset ”
which is mentioned as George’s place
of residence in William’s will. It was
at Porton, I think, not at East Coker, that Dampier
spent most, if not all, of his sick leave. He now decided
not to return to the Navy. A treaty of peace, in which
the Dutch conceded most of the English demands, was
signed in 1674 ; but months before that it became
apparent that all was over except the shouting, both
nations being heartily sick of the war. Moreover
Dampier had never quite “ got the hang ” of naval ways
and naval discipline, as he himself admitted in after
years, when he came to command a king’s ship. He
was not an easy man to place, as we shall presently
discover ; for the fact is that he was equally out of his
element in a king’s ship and in the noisy fo’c’sle of a
buccaneer.

Dampier, however, was rapidly recovering his health ;
and “ with my health I recovered my old inclination for
the Sea.” In fact, the South was calling, and he began
to look round for another “ warm voyage.” On this
occasion there was no need to visit London. He got

in touch with a “ neighbouring gentleman,” Colonel

WILLIAM DAMPIER

Helyar, of East Coker, his father’s old landlord Colonel
Helyar happened to be interested in the West Indies.
He owned property there, and he seems to have imported
negro servants into East Coker, for a “ black-a-moor ”
of his is recorded as having been baptized in the parish
church in the year of Dampier’s birth. He had taken a
fancy to young William, and now came forward with
what the latter calls “ a reasonable offer ” to go and
manage a plantation of his in Jamaica, under one Mr.
Whalley. Dampier was now twenty-two years of age ;
he had never been in the West Indies ; and he needed
no persuasion. He immediately booked his passage with
Captain Kent, in the “ Content ” of London, and sailed
from the River Thames “ in the beginning of the year
1674”— by which he means March or April 2 — thus
embarking with a good heart upon his fifth voyage. One
clause in his agreement with Captain Kent throws an
interesting light upon the evils of the system of deporting
criminals to Jamaica for forced labour. To avoid the
danger of being “ trepaned,” as he calls it, and sold as a
slave, Dampier agreed with Captain Kent to work his
passage out as a seaman, though, in view of the employ-
ment he was going to, he could doubtless have paid his
fare. At the same time, he was careful to get the
captain s written agreement to discharge him formally
after he had landed. ■'

The “ Content ” met with favourable winds from the
start, and “ went merrily along ” until they had put the
Atlantic behind them, and came in sight of Barbadoes.
It would appear, however, that the passengers on board
were but a mean-spirited crowd. When they came in
sight of the first island, the Captain made them a sporting

1 The Helyars c^tinued as Lords of the Manor at East Coker down
® “ 1 674” is O.S.

GOES TO THE WEST INDIES 29

offer. The place was not included in his itinerary, he
said, but it was a long time since they had seen land ;
and if they would club together and pay the port charges,
he would anchor in the roads, and remain there “ whilst
they got refreshment ” ashore. But he found them —
wealthy merchants for the most part — “ not caring to
part with their money ” ; and so bore away for Jamaica.

It is about now that we realize that "Dampier has
begun to keep that famous “journal ” of his, upon which
all his subsequent writings were based. He delights in
describing every detail of the voyage, and delights us
no less by his descriptions. Sailing from Barbadoes, the
“ Content ” passed between the islands of St. Lucia and
St. Vincent, so that they came near enough to observe
smoke rising from among the trees, and sent a boat
ashore to investigate. Presently the boat returned,
loaded with plantains, bananas, pineapples and sugar-
cane which the sailors had purchased from the natives.
They were accompanied, too, by a canoe containing three
or four Indians ; and thus Dampier, leaning eagerly
over the bulwarks, made his first acquaintance with these
harmless folk, whom he was to know so well in later
years. Characteristically he launches out into a lively
description of the Carib Indians, who love “ to rove on
the sea in Periagoes or large Canoes, moving from one
island to another according to the season of the year.”
He explains that the British occupation had driven them
out of Barbadoes into the lesser islands not yet settled
by Europeans. But even St. Lucia was in 1674 “ often
visited by the English ” for the sake of its valuable
timber.

These particular natives had very little to say. Appa-
rently they spoke no English. But they frequently
repeated the name “ Captain Warner ” and “ seemed to
be in some disquiet about him.” Dampier did not
understand their meaning at the time ; but later he

WILLIAM DAMPIER

heard a remarkable and tragic little story of life in those
far-oIF seas, which he has happily preserved for us in
his journal. I give it in his own words :

“ This Captain Warner whom they mentioned, was
born at Antego [Antigua], one of our English islands,
and the son of Governor Warner, by an Indian woman,
and bred up by his father in the English manner ; he
learned the English language [? Indian] also of his
Mother ; but being grown up and finding himself
despised by his English kindred, he forsook his Father’s
House, got away to St. Lucia, and there liv’d among
the Caribbe Indians, his Relations by the Mother’s side ;
Where conforming himself to their customs he became
one of their Captains, and roved from one Island to
another, as they did. About this time the Caribbes had
done some spoil on our English Plantations at Antego :
and therefore Governor Warner’s Son by his Wife took
a Party of Men and went to suppress those Indians ;
and came to the place where his Brother, the Indian
Warrior, lived. Great seeming joy was there at their
meeting ; but how far it was real the Event shewed ;
for the English Warner providing plenty of liquor, and
inviting his half-brother to be merry with him, in the
midst of his Entertainment ordered his IVIen upon a
signal given to Murder him and all his Indians ; which
was accordingly performed. The reason of this inhuman
Action is diversely reported ; some say that this Indian
Warner committed all the spoil that was done to the
English ; and therefore for that reason his Brother killed
him and his men. Others that he was a great Friend
to the English, and would not suffer his men to hurt
them, but did all that lay in his power to draw them to
an amicable commerce ; and that his Brother killed him
for ^at he was ashamed to be related to an Indian.
But be it how it will, he was called in question for the

GOES TO THE WEST INDIES 31

Murder, and forced to come home to take his Tryal in
England. Such perfidious doings as these, beside the
Baseness of them, are great hindrances of our gaining an
interest among the Indians.”

It is both unpleasant and unexpected to find colour
prejudice, which in general may be termed a modern
growth, so strong among our seventeenth-century
countrymen in the West Indies. But it is fair to add
that such crimes as Warner’s were rare. Most English-
men, whether honest traders or buccaneers, would have
agreed with Dampier’s shrewd comment upon the incon-
venience of such incidents from the business point of
view. And we shall see, in following his adventures,
that even the most reckless followers of Sharp and
Sawkins fully appreciated the importance of keeping on
good terms with the Indians, if only as the readiest means
of obtaining guides, when they set out to attack some
unsuspecting Spanish town.

Leaving St. Lucia and St. Vincent behind him.
Captain Kent set his course across the Caribbean Sea,
until he fell in with the south coast of Hispaniola, or
Haiti, along which he coasted until he reached Cape
Tiburon, the westernmost point of the island. Here
he sent men ashore to look for the orange groves reputed
to be there ; but they returned without having round
any. Dampier remarks, however, that at a later date
he was able to satisfy himself of the existence of these
orange groves. From Tiburon the “ Content ” made a
quick passage to Jamaica, where their arrival at Port
Royal must have been very welcome, since “ we brought
the first news they had of peace with the Dutch.”

Captain Kent kept his promise to Dampier, who was
duly discharged, and went ashore with his papers all in
order to meet his new employer, Mr. Whalley. They
met in Spanish Town, probably at some picturesque old

WILLIAM DAMPIER

inn — alas, that so little of all this remains to-day ! — and
later proceeded to Colonel Helyar’s estate which was
situated near the south coast at a place called Sixteen-
Mile-Walk. The journey had formerly been consider-
ably longer, the road winding round the foot of “ a
large mountain.” But one day that “ very ingenious
gentleman,” Mr. Cary Helyar, the Colonel’s brother,
had happened to take a walk that way with his dog,
and perceiving the animal nosing about and apparently
“ finding a hole to creep through the rock,” it occurred
to him that perhaps there was “ a hollow passage ”
through. Sure enough, there was ; and by blasting
with gunpowder they made a passage large enough for
a man on horseback to pass.

Our wandering William boasts that he lived with
Mr. Whalley at Sixteen-Mile-Walk for “ almost six
months ” — a long time for him. He then entered the
service of a certain Captain Homing, who owned a
plantation at St. Ann’s on the opposite, or north, side of
the island. It was a three-days’ journey from south to
north, and at nights, especially when crossing the Blue
Mountains, a ridge which divides the island from east
to west, Dampier was very cold “ for lack of cloathes
to cover me,” and must have reflected bitterly upon this
unexpected result of his latest “ warm voyage.” Arriving
at the new plantation, he found himself “ clearly out of
my element there,” and as soon as he was able to see
Captain Heming he obtained his discharge, and took
passage on a coasting vessel back to Port Royal.

Once more he was out of a job. But there was no
unemployment problem in Jamaica in those days, and
Dampier soon entered himself on board another coaster,
commanded by a man who rejoiced in the name of
Fishook, and with him went trading round the islands.
We must remember that he still occupied quite a
subordinate position ; he was apparently no more than

GOES TO THE WEST INDIES 33

an ordinary foremast hand ; but he remarks that “ by
those coasting voyages I came acquainted with all the
ports and bays about Jamaica . . . with the benefit of
the land and sea-winds.” In fact, he has now definitely
turned his attention to the study of pilotage and hydro-
graphy. From now on we find his journal full of notes
of a highly technical character, which could only have
been recorded by a young sailor who had developed a
genuine scientific interest in his profession.

The English planters treated the crews of these coasters
very “ civilly.” They allowed them to wander about
their estates and help themselves to “ plantains, yams,
potatoes, etc.,” upon which they seem to have subsisted
almost entirely when on board their ships. But, at the
end of “ six or seven months,” Dampier had again had
enough of it. Perhaps the vegetarian diet began to pall.
At any rate he now took a step which, as things turned
out, had a decisive effect upon his career. He shipped
with one Captain Hudsel (or Hudswell), who was bound
from Port Royal to the Bay of Campeachy, to load
logwood there.

Now the logwood-cutters of Campeachy Bay had long
been a thorn in the side of Spain. Most of them, in
their spare time, were buccaneers, preying upon Spanish
trade ; and Spain was annoyed to find that under the
treaty of 1670 with England (which contained a uhi
posseditis, or “ remain-in-the-place-you-already-possess ”
clause) she had apparently legalized the position of these
ex-buccaneers in Campeachy Bay. She therefore pro-
ceeded to make things as unpleasant as she could for
them, and the logwood-cutter’s life was by no means a
bed of roses. He slept with his hanger and his pistol
by his side, and he lost no opportunity of “ getting one
back ” on the Spaniards. To join the logwood-cutters
at this date was to enter a profession of doubtful legality,
and one in which hard knocks might be expected on a

WILLIAM DAMPIER

3 +

generous scale. It was, in fact, “no profession for a
gentleman ” ; but our young adventurer was not to be
deterred by that. He may have been one of Nature’s
gentlemen ; so far as there is any meaning in the term,
I think he was ; but he never in his life chose any
course of action because he thought it was gentlemanlike.

Dampier’s new vessel, a small ketch, carrying a crew
of “ only six men and a boy,” sailed from Port Royal
in August, 1675, in company with two even smaller
ships. After coasting the southern shores of the island
of Cuba, they entered the Gulf of Mexico, and approached
the mainland of Yucatan (Dampier taking his usual
careful notes all the way of everything he saw and heard),
until they crossed the Bay of Campeachy, and cast
anchor off the island of Triste (now known as Carmen
Island), in the lagoon of Terminos, after a voyage of
only fourteen days. Here were the headquarters of the
logwood-cutters, and Dampier describes the country in
some detail. He explains the methods by which the
native fishermen caught tarpon — evidently as exciting a
sport then as it is now — and he interrupts his narrative
to tell us another amazing anecdote of life in those
latitudes. It appears that the country in the neighbour-
hood of Seisal on the Yucatan coast was particularly rich
in game ; and, as it had very few human inhabitants,
the English “ privateers ” (the tactful local name for
buccaneers) from Jamaica were in the habit of landing
there and roaming about hunting at their will. But one
day a small party of six or seven men, who had come
ashore in a canoe and got so far along the coast that
their vessel was out of sight, were suddenly surprised by
a detachment of Spanish soldiers from the neighbouring
fort — a sleepy-looking, white building, drowsing among
the palm-trees, which the English had been accustomed
to ignore.

These poor sailormen were dragged before the

GOES TO THE WEST INDIES

governor of the fort, who began his examination by
demanding to know which of them was the captain. At
this “ they all stood mute,” for the captain was not
among them, and they were afraid to tell the Spaniards
so, for fear of being hanged as “ straglers ” — ^which I
take to mean masterless men, and therefore presumably
pirates. On the other hand, none of them cared to
assume the title of captain, since they had no papers
with them, and it is characteristic of those times that
no English captain ever dared to go ashore without
carrying his commission in his pocket, for the protection
both of himself and of his men. So there was an
awkward pause. “ At last,” says Dampier, “ one John
Hubock cocked up his little cropt hat, and told him
that he was the Captain,” adding that he had inadver-
tently left his commission on board. The Spaniards
accepted this explanation — apparently their intentions
were not so hostile as the English had supposed — ^and
the joke was that from now on Hubock was treated
with special honour, given handsome lodgings and
captain’s food ; and when the whole party were marched
overland to Campeachy town, a distance of about a
hundred English miles, he was provided with a horse,
while his indignant companions had to walk. At Cam-
peachy he was “ frequently regaled with chocolate, etc.”
and was then taken alone to interview the governor,
upon whom the fellow’s native wit seems to have had
some effect, for the whole party was presently able to
return to Jamaica. Hubock was “ ever after called
Captain Jack.”

From Triste, Captain Hudsel sailed across the lagoon
to One-Bush-Key, a landing-place on the mainland,
which had acquired its name from the fact that there
was only one “ little crooked tree ” growing on it.
Dampier describes the landing as all covered with oyster
shells, and adds that he never tasted better oysters any-

36 WILLIAM DAMPIER

where. He affirms that “ the mangrove-roots that grow
by the sides of the creeks are loaden with them (/.<?. with
oysters) ; and so are all the branches which hang in
the water.” ^

At One-Bush-Key Captain Hudsel got in touch with
the logwood-cutters, and hired from them a periago to
bring the logwood on board. This was Dampier’s first
acquaintance with that jovial confraternity, with whom
he was afterwards to live for a period of nearly three
years. Characteristically he at once made it his business
to find out as much about them as he could. He
frequendy visited them in the “ huts ” or shelters in
which they lived, when “ I and those with me were
always very kindly entertained by them with pork and
pease, or beef and dough-boys.” There were about two
hundred and fifty of these logwood-cutters, mostly
Englishmen, who had settled themselves in the neigh-
bourhood of One-Bush-Key. A large proportion of
them were undoubtedly old buccaneers : former associ-
ates of Morgan’s, perhaps, who, now that that redoubt-
able leader had settled down and turned respectable as
Lieutenant-Governor of Jamaica,^ had taken to logwood-
cutting, as being a dangerous, lawless and lucrative trade,
and in that respect not entirely unlike their former
profession. Others would be escaped “ servants,” or
slaves, from the plantations, with a few independent
adventurers of the Dampier type. They were a hard-
living, hard-swearing crowd — in fact about as “ tough ”
as their own logwood.

The great value of this commodity had been dis-
covered some years before by an Englishman, Captain
James, who had taken a cargo of it back to England
and sold it at a high figure. Since then the price had

^ Here is a reasonable explanation of the Elizabethan legend, in which
Raleigh, among others, was a firm believer, of oysters that “ grew ” on
trees. See below, page 6i.

GOES TO THE WEST INDIES

risen to about ;^ioo a ton, with the result that a successful
logwood-cutter might now expect to make his fortune
in a few years — if he survived. There was, however,
always that unhappy doubt. The wood, which was very
hard and burned with a clear and lasting fire, only grew
at its best in pestiferous and swampy places. As illus-
trating the appalling hardships of the logwood-cutter’s
life, Dampier remarks that when they tumbled out of
their miserable beds of a morning (beds which were
hermetically sealed within a close-fitting “ pavilion,”
probably of sail-cloth, to keep out the mosquitoes), they
would often step straight into two feet or more of water,
and would remain in it all day, under the tropic sun,
working at their heavy task of cutting and hauling wood.
(For the season of the floods was the best time of year
for their purpose.) They are described as vigorous,
powerfully built men, and one can understand that they
needed to be. When they required food, they hunted
the wild cattle, which abounded on the mainland (as on
many of the islands thereabouts), sometimes stalking the
animals on the open savannahs, sometimes catching
them at their drinking-places by the rivers and pursuing
them across the water in canoes — a hazardous business,
comments Dampier, if a bull chanced to turn at bay ! It
was the usual plan to go hunting every Saturday, in order
to provide themselves with beef for the following week.

Amid such alternations of dangerous excitement and
unremitting toil, and living in this perpetually humid
atmosphere, it is not altogether surprising to hear that
the logwood-cutters raised a thirst which the surrounding
waters were far from satisfying. Indeed the reception
accorded to visiting ships, and the terms upon which
the valuable logwood was sold to them, were largely
conditioned by the quantity of rum the skipper had
brought with him and the generosity with which he
dispensed it. A small local trader, such as Dampier

WILLIAM DAMPIER

had arrived in, would bring no money at all, but the
captain, after standing drinks all round to establish a
friendly atmosphere, would proceed to barter his rum in
return for the logwood. When a full cargo of the latter
had been obtained, the remainder of the rum^ would
be sold for money to the thirsty woodsmen — in this case,
in the form of punch, “ wherewith,” says Dampier,
“ they grew frolicksome.”

They must have been rather trying visitors on board
ship, for it was apparently their practice to insist upon
the firing of the ship’s guns every time they drank a
health. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately). Captain
Hudsel’s little vessel had no guns on board. “ We had
none but small arms to fire,” confesses Dampier, “ and
therefore the noise was not very great at a distance ;
but on board the vessel we were loud enough till all our
liquor was spent.” After that, of course, there was no
more to be said ; and towards the end of September
Captain Hudsel decided that it was time to make a
move.

So with one last parting cheer, and perhaps a last
toast or two, and with much waving of hands and shout-
ing of farewells, he up-anchored and put out into the
lagoon, leaving Dampier’s new friends ashore, still carry-
ing on their wild carouse which would probably last for
days. Which practice, as Dampier’s Victorian bio-
grapher 2 very properly remarks, “ in that ungenial climate
was carrying imprudence and folly to the last pitch.”

But Dampier, meantime, was thinking hard. He was,
in fact, making up his mind to return to this wild place.
It was not simply that the life attracted him. Love of
adventure was indeed his ruling passion and was to
take him into many even stranger places than this ;

There were also some other despised and unspecified “ commodoties ”
on board, but they were eyidendy of no account.

* Smyth.

GOES TO THE WEST INDIES

but, except for that, he had little enough in common
with the ex-buccaneers and other riff-raff who made up
this strange community. He has told us himself that
he “ did ever abhor drunkenness,” and though his
detractors have tried to cast doubt on this pious pro-
fession, it is clear that he was, on the whole, a “ steady,”
temperate sort of man. But what he had plainly per-
ceived at One-Bush-Key was, in the first place, a new
opportunity of acquiring fresh “ experience,” and, in
the second, to quote his own words, “ a great prospect
of getting money here, if men would be but diligent
and frugal.”

In the meantime, however, he had to get back to
Jamaica, and that was not to prove so easy as it seemed.
Captain Hudsel was a singularly feckless commander.
First he sighted two sail in the Bay of Campeachy, and,
mistaking them for Englishmen from Jamaica, wanted
to heave-to and try to get some liquor from them, his
own having all been left behind at One-Bush-Key, and
his crew again athirst. Just in time they discovered
these ships to be Spaniards, and escaped with difficulty
after a long chase. A fortnight later they were still in
the Bay, struggling against adverse winds, for the ketch
was a “ heavy sailer.”

One night Dampier was on deck, it being his turn
at the helm from 6 to 8 p.m. The night had that
velvety warmth of the southern latitudes, the sky was
purple overhead, and the stars were shining with the
brightness of jewels, such as East Coker never saw.
“ All our men were layn down on the deck and fallen
asleep ” ; “ my Captain was just behind me on the
quarter deck, fast asleep too.” Young Dampier, char-
acteristically, was occupying his time in speculating upon
the reason why the sea had suddenly become so smooth,
and why the ship, which had been steering very badly,
was now steering well. Indeed he had just been looking

WILLIAM DAMPIER

over the side, trying unsuccessfully to discover the cause.
Suddenly, without the slightest warning, the ship struck,
throwing our young adventurer flat upon his back.
They were ashore on the Alacranes Islands ! It was,
indeed, a liberal education for a budding navigator to
go to sea with poor Captain Hudsel.

Next morning they managed to get the ship off, and
anchored among the islands, which Dampier visited,
and describes with his usual care. There were oppor-
tunities of hunting here, and Dampier tried to persuade
his companions to salt down some of the flesh of birds
and seals, which abounded ; but they were lazy, and
refused. Sailing on again, they sighted the coast of
Cuba (being then no less than two months out from
Triste !) and shaped a course for Jamaica, but were
driven back to Cuba again, and decided to land on the
Island of Pines in order to obtain meat. This was
always dangerous work ; for just over the way at Cape
Corientes there was a Spanish garrison, the soldiers of
which, being mostly “ mulatoes or some other sort of
copper colour Indians,” possessed a large canoe, in
which they were in the habit of sallying out and robbing
harmless merchant ships, sometimes murdering the
crews “ for fear of telling tales.” ^

The shore party from the ketch met no Spaniards,
but neither did they meet with any game. Their whole
bag consisted of a young swordfish, which was captured
by the man whom they had left on the beach to look
after their boat. Hungrier than ever, they departed
from the Island of Pines, and immediately ran into a
fierce gale, which continued for two days and left them —
it is true — in the latitude of Jamaica, but without a
mouthful of food on board. It was now a question of

^ Dampier adds, with his usual fairness, that, of course, the Spanish
“ merchants and gentry ” knew nothing of this — only the “ soldiers and
rascality of the people.”

GOES TO THE WEST INDIES

whether to beat for Jamaica (in this terribly “ dull
sailer ”) or to bear away before the wind for the South
Keys. Dampier was for the former course, but he was
out-voted, and thereupon “ turned into my cabin ” in a
huff, declaring that they would all be starved. The
incident is not without interest, as introducing us for
the first time to the celebrated Dampier temper, which,
in after years, was to form the subject of inqiiiry before
an Admiralty court-martial.

But all things come to an end, and this unlucky
voyage was no exception to the rule. They reached
Jamaica at last, and made harbour, literally with their
tongues hanging out. The captain, who with all his
faults seems to have been a man of generous instincts,
immediately sent ashore for suitable refreshments, and
invited them all to the cabin to drink a bowl of punch.
Alas, there was yet one more stroke of ill fortune in
store ! Two other skippers from neighbouring ships
had been asked to join the festive gathering ; and one
of these, lifting the bowl of punch in his hands, observed
that he was under an oath to take only three draughts
of liquor each day, and therefore liked them long ; and
so quaffed the whole bowlful before anyone could stop
him. Whereat, says Dampier, with admirable restraint,
“ we were disappointed.”

We perceive that he is a man who enjoys telling a
funny story. Of the voyage in general he observes that
probably no ship ever had so many misfortunes in
coming out of the Bay, “ having first blundered over the
Alcany (Alacranes) Riff, and then visited those islands ;
from thence fell in among the Colorado shoals, after-
ward making a trip to Grand Caymanes,” and so on.
But “ in all these matters we got as much experience as
if we had been sent on a design.” That is the secret —
experience, experience ! As yet he has asked no more
of life.

CHAPTER IV

JOINS THE BUCCANEERS

OW this second, or return, visit of
Dampier’s to the logwood-cutting
community in Campeachy Bay, which
I am about to relate, marks a turning-
point in his career. It definitely
classes him among the adventurers
of that period — men who did not
care much where they sought excite-
ment and riches, so long as it was at the expense of the
King of Spain ; nor how many laws they broke, if they
were only Spanish laws.

No doubt the Spanish claim to a monopoly in a trade
which they themselves had done little to exploit was
absurd, and would have been untenable in any age. The
legal position was, in fact, rather complicated. Spain,
as we have seen, since her treaty of peace with England,
no longer claimed that the whole of the West Indies
trade belonged to her alone. But in practice she stopped
foreign trade whenever she could, and it was notorious
that the local Spanish authorities were particularly down
on the logwood-cutters. These latter had moved away
from the inhabited parts of the coast to the lonely creeks
round Terminos Lagoon precisely because it was unsafe
to carry on their business anywhere within reach of a
Spanish fort. And I am afraid that our William, when
he deliberately returned to Campeachy, with visions of
quickly acquired wealth before his eyes, had set his foot

JOINS THE BUCCANEERS 43

upon a slippery slope which, in the end, must land him
inevitably upon the lawless deck of a buccaneer.

Anyhow, one Captain Johnson, of New England,
being bound from Jamaica to Campeachy, agreed to
take Dampier with him as a passenger (rather a step-up
in the world) ; and on this ship our hero embarked,
with an elaborate outfit of hatchets and saws and machetes,
his “ pavilion ” to sleep in, his gun, powder and shot,
and all the other impedimenta of the logwood-cutter.
Sailing from Jamaica about the middle of February, 1 676,
they made a quick passage to the Terminos Lagoon,
and Dampier “settled himself” in the west creek, on
the west side of the lagoon, at a point about four leagues
distant from One-Bush-Key. He did not at first set
up on his own, but hired himself out under some of the
old hands, to learn the trade from them.

Among his very first notes on the surrounding country
are references to the strained relations between the log-
wood-cutters and the Spanish authorities. He observes
that there was, near Campeachy Town, a large and
valuable salt pond. The Spaniards used to make the
local Indians rake this salt ashore during the “ kerning ”
season, and pile it up in heaps. Then the Indians
would go off home, leaving the Spaniards to collect the
salt at their leisure. Which was “ jam ” for the
Spaniards, of course, since, as Dampier says, “ I know
of no other salt ponds on all the coast.” But the English
logwood- cutters, on their voyages between Jamaica
and Terminos, would not infrequently pay casual visits
to this salt pond, when they would “ make bold to take
and sell both the ships (which they found in harbour
there) and the Indian sailors that belonged to them.”
This, they explained, was “ by way of reprisal,” for
alleged injuries received from the Spaniards. The
Governors of Jamaica (including the virtuous Sir Henry
Morgan !) of course “ knew nothing ” of it. But, says

WILLIAM DAMPIER

Dampier — ^and it is a point worth noting : . neither

durst the Spaniards complain ; for at that time they
used to take all the English ships they met with in
these parts, not sparing even such as came laden with
sugar from Jamaica and were bound for England ;
especially if they had logwood aboard. This was done
openly, for the ships were carried into the Havanna,
there sold, and the men imprisoned without any redress.”
In this connection I may quote the case of the unfor-
tunate Captain Buckenham, related by Wafer,^ who had
formerly sailed with him. About five years after the
date we are now dealing with, Buckenham was captured
by the Spaniards while on a voyage from Jamaica to
Campeachy, for logwood, and was carried prisoner to
Mexico City. There he was seen by one, Russell,^
another English prisoner, who afterwards escaped, and
told Wafer the story : “ He told me (Wafer) he saw
Capt. Buckenham, with a log chained to his leg and a
basket at his back, crying bread about the streets for a
baker his master. The Spaniards would never consent
to the ransoming him, though he was a Gentleman who
had friends of a considerable fortune, and would have
given them a very large sum of money.” As a matter
of fact, the Spanish were almost literally cutting their
own throats by this dog-in-the-manger policy. Dampier’s
comment is a shrewd one : “ It is not my business (he
says) to determine how far we might have a right of
cutting wood there, but this I can say, that the Spaniards
never received less damage from the persons who

^ A New V jyage and Description, etc. By Lionel Wafer. London :
Knapton, 1699.

® There is a later allusion to Russell in Dampier’s writings. He was
an old logwood-cutter who was captured by the Spaniards and sent to
Mesico City ; and after his escape he proceeded to “ get his own back ”
in the usual way, by turning buccaneer. In fact, he drew interest as
well, for Dampier tells us that “ about the year ’8 $ he captured the town
of Vera Cruz.”

JOINS THE BUCCANEERS 45

generally follow that trade than when they are employed
upon that work.” Which is very true, for nearly every
man at Terminos was an ex-buccaneer. The whole
trade, as Dampier says, “ had its rise from the decay
of privateering,” which the British authorities were just
as anxious to stop as the Spaniards were. No doubt the
logwood-cutters were a nuisance. At first they merely
stole the logwood which the Spaniards had already cut.
But when soldiers were sent against them to prevent
that, they moved down the coast to places like Triste
and One-Bush-Key, where, one would think, they might
have been allowed to stew in their own juice. It is true
that they frequently got drunk, and that they often
sallied out against neighbouring Indian villagers, and
“ brought away the Indian women to serve them at
their huts ” — but what was that to the Spaniards ?

The Spaniards, however, would never leave the log-
wood-cutters alone. They were always looking out for
a chance to suppress them. Occasionally, “ encouraged
by their careless rioting,” they would pluck up enough
spirit to make a sudden descent and capture a few of
these intoxicated Englishmen, and sell them as slaves in
Mexico. Dampier tells us that, after he left the Bay,
the logwood-cutters that remained there were all “ routed
or taken ” in a big Spanish raid. He adds that his
continual dread of a similar fate was one of the reasons
which eventually led him also to abandon logwood-
cutting — and take to buccaneering instead !

Well, Dampier lived with the logwood-cutters, and
cut and hauled all the week, and went out hunting of a
Saturday night like the rest of them. One of these
week-end jaunts nearly proved fatal to him, for he got
separated from his companions (he says he “ gave them
the slip,” being perhaps bored by their profane conversa-
tion), and was unable to find his way back. He passed
an unpleasant night with the mosquitoes, but no larger

WILLIAM DAMPIER

enemy appeared, and next morning he got safely
home.

About this time, the “ nature notes ” in his journal
are profuse and lively. “ The monkeys that are in these
parts are the ugliest I ever saw.” “ The fowls of this
country are humming-birds ” — which is to say “ a pretty
little feathered creature no bigger than a wasp.” In
fact there are enough ornithological observations to make
a whole chapter. The tailor-birds, with their hanging
nests, which so vex and tantalize marauding snakes, are
said to be called in English “ subtle-jacks.” There is a
kind of shellfish, too, “ called by the English Horse-
hoofs,” and said to be “ very good meat ” ; but Dampier
never tasted it, and its name is certainly against it.
Other local fish are the “ garr-fish,” who “ skip along
a foot or two above the water for the length of twenty
or thirty yards,” and will “ dart themselves with such
force that they strike their snout through the sides of a
cotton tree canoe ” ; and the “ sea-devils ” who “ make
■an odd figure when they leap out of the water.”

As for the “ tiger cats,” “ they prey on young calves
and other game, whereof here is plenty ; and because
they do not want food they are the less to be feared,
but I have wished them farther off when I have met
them in the woods.” He also discusses the difference
between crocodiles and alligators at considerable length.

I am afraid he was not desperately interested in food ;
but he does remark that he had the curiosity to try the
snake flesh, which the Indians enjoyed so much, but
“cannot commend it” — a point on which modern
gastronomic opinion is entirely with him.

At the end of his first month Dampier received his
wages, in the form of a consignment of the logwood
which he had helped to cut and bring down to the beach.
With the proceeds of this, and some more money that
he had borrowed, he proceeded to set up on his own

JOINS THE BUCCANEERS 47

account, going into partnership “ with some of my
former masters.” His immediate associates were three
men named Price Morrice, Duncan Campbell and
“ George,” whose surname we never learn. Campbell
presently took passage on a visiting ship and went to
New England to sell their existing stock. In his absence
Dampier was worried to find Price Morrice “ not very
intent at work.” It is always the same, he complains.
“ Those who have been well-bred are generally most
careful to improve their time when there is any proba-
bility of considerable gain,” but “ those who have been
inured to hard labour and got their living by the sweat
of their brows ” no sooner acquire a little money than
they begin to waste their time “ in drinking and making
a bluster.” In addition to these troubles, Dampier now
made his first acquaintance with the “jigger ” worm —
that familiar enemy of the modern traveller. He
describes, with a wealth of distressing detail, how it
“ bred ” in his leg, and made him feel very ill indeed,
until a negro servant evicted it by means of some simple
local remedies.

And then — “ to complete my misfortune ” — came the
worst storm that any Englishman had ever known in
those parts. Dampier gives a dramatic account of this
storm in his Discourse on Winds?- It happened “ some
time in June, 1676.” Two days previously, the wind
had “ whiffled about to the South, and back again to
the East,” blowing very faintly, and the weather fair
and clear. Then came multitudes of men-of-war birds,
flying over the land, whereat Dampier’s companions
were vastly pleased, for did not the appearance of these
birds always portend the arrival of ships ? Some of the
men said they had lived at Barbadoes, where it was a
well-accepted fact that as many of these birds as passed
over the town “ so many ships there were coming
^ Part III of volume ii of his Voyages.

WILLIAM DAMPIER

thither.” But on this occasion, as Dampier sarcasti-
cally observes, it seemed “ impossible that they could
imagine there could be the hundredth part of the ships
arrive that they saw birds fly over their heads.”

The next unusual phenomenon was that the water
ebbed for two days without a flood, till the creek where
they lived was almost dry. Then, about four o’clock
one afternoon, the sky rapidly blackened, and without
further warning the great storm burst. In less than
two hours all their huts but one were blown away. By
ten o’clock next morning the creek was over its banks.
The forest, says Dampier, presented an astonishing sight,
with the trees torn up and thrown across one another in
every direction, so that there was no passing through.
Multitudes of fish were cast up on shore, or floated
dead on the surface of the lagoon. At noon on the
second day, our party of logwood-cutters managed to
get their canoe to the side of the one remaining hut,
where they tied it- to a stout tree. That night the storm
at last abated, and by two o’clock in the morning there
was a calm.

Dampier and his companions now found themselves
in a condition of the greatest misery. All their food
was spoilt, except the beef and pork, and as the highest
ground anywhere near them was two or three feet under
water, it was impossible to do any cooking, “ unless we
had done it in the canoe.” At last, in despair, they all
embarked, and sailed away in their canoe to One-Bush-
Key, where they found only a single vessel remaining
of the four which had been at anchor there before the
storm. And this was unfortunately a “ dry ” ship, for
other refugees had been there before them and had
drunk up all the rum ! The unhappy, wet quartette
therefore launched out upon the lagoon, in search of
the other ships and more heartening fare.

Approaching Beef Island, they were surprised to sec

JOINS THE BUCCANEERS 49

“ a Flag in the Woods, made fast to a pole and placed
on the Top of a High Tree ” ; and coming near to
land, there was an even more astonishing sight — ^the
topmasts of a ship standing up among the trees, at least
two hundred yards from the shore ! It was one of the
missing ships from One-Bush-Key, which, flying in with
the gale behind it, had dashed ashore and ploughed a
“ pretty clear passage through the woods ” until it
reached its present unnatural resting-place. There, all
amidst the humming-birds and the monkeys and the
mangroves, it was held bolt upright by the broken
stumps of trees which were sticking through its sides !

There was no salvage to be done here, but Dampier
and his friends went on board, and found there most of
the crew who hospitably entertained them. Apparently
none of these hardy adventurers felt any the worse for
their startling experience. Then, hearing the sound of
guns, and supposing it to be another of the British
vessels in distress, Dampier’s party put to sea again, and
found a ketch, commanded by one. Captain Chandler,
run ashore “ on a point of sand ” in the lagoon, where
they had stuck immovably and were feeling very lone-
some. These people welcomed the logwood-cutters
with open arms, and persuaded them to stay for two
days and help them get the cargo off.

Before leaving the subject of this mighty storm (this
very notable “ South,” as Dampier calls it), it is of
interest to collect together some of the further references
to the subject which are to be found scattered about in
his writings. Most of them are of a highly technical
character, suitable only to a work on hydrography ; but
he does mention that, in addition to the four English
ships at One-Bush-Key, of whose fate we have heard,
there were four more anchored off the island of Triste.
Three of these were driven from their anchorage out
into the Bay, and one of them was never heard of again.

WILLIAM DAMPIER

This, we may infer, was the only English loss ; for it
was an extraordinary feature of this storm that it “ did
not reach 30 leagues to windward of Triste,” and an
English ship which had sailed for Jamaica three days
before felt nothing of it, though the captain saw black
clouds behind him in the west.

The Spaniards were not so fortunate. Dampier men-
tions two Spanish “ King’s ships ” as being driven ashore
in the Bay. One of them, the “ Piscadore,” which had
run on a sandy beach, near the River Tobasco, was
there captured by Hewet, the English privateer captain.
The Spanish loss in merchant ships must have been
considerable. Dampier says that they always lost more
heavily than the English, and he goes on to explain
that this was due to their habit of “ bringing their ships
to under a foresail and mizzen ” (instead of a mainsail
and mizzen, or mizzen only, as the English did), which
“ must be an extraordinary strain to a ship, especially if
she be long.” What is more, “ when the wind comes
up fierce,” the Spaniards “ put right afore it ” (for in
their case “ ’tis but hailing up the mizzen and the foresail
veers the ship ”) trusting to luck and the goodwill of
the saints, “ and so continue till the storm ceaseth or
tke land takes them up ” — ^which evidently happened not
infrequently.

After helping Captain Chandler off with his cargo,
Dampier and his friends returned to Beef Island, which
now became their headquarters. Beef Island was, at
this time, full of friendly Indians, who were very
pro-British (and correspondingly anti-Spanish) in their
sympathies. I fear it can hardly be maintained that the
logwood-cutters, in removing large numbers of the
neighbouring Indian women (as noted above) from the
care of their natural guardians, were inspired by motives
which would have commended themselves to the
Aborigines Protection Society ; or were even scheming

JOINS THE BUCCANEERS 51

to get the Indians on their side. But the fact remains,
as Dampier remarks with his usual air of detachment,
that it was these women who “ after their return made,
known the kind Entertainment that they met with from
the English and persuaded their friends to leave their
dwellings near the Spaniards, and settle on this island.”

So that it was in a thoroughly friendly and cordial
atmosphere that Dampier once more found leisure to
open his journal and record a few notes. Beef Island
seems to have had an unusual history — and Dampier
always had an eye for the unusual. It originally belonged
to a Spaniard called “ John d ’Acosta ” of Campeachy
Town, who seems to have had more resilience than most
of his countrymen ; for, perceiving the impossibility of
keeping the English out altogether, he made a compact
with them, whereby he supplied them with as many
head of cattle as they cared to ask for, on condition that
they never came farther inland than the beach, and never
did any hunting themselves. This was a wise provision,
for, as Dampier observes, the Spaniards would “ pick
and choose only the bulls and old cows, and leave the
young cattle to breed,” whereas the English and French
(especially the French) destroyed recklessly.^ But the
pig-headed governor of Campeachy, getting to hear of
this arrangement, threw poor John d’ Acosta into prison,
where he remained many years. That was in ’7 1 or ’72.
Thereafter, of course, the English shot cattle at their
will and treated the island as their own property. More-
over, as we have seen, it had become an asylum for anti-
Spanish Indians.

* So much so that very shortl7 after our capture of Jamaica there
were no cattle left on that island, and the soldiers of the garrison, who
had slaughtered them all, were like to die of hunger. As a matter of
fact, adds Dampier, “ had it not been for the great care of the Spaniards
in stocking the West Indies with hogs and bullocks, the privateers must
have starved ” — a curious reflection !

WILLIAM DAMPIER

Dampier did a good deal of shooting on Beef Island,
and found the cattle grown wilder and fiercer. When
attacked, they would run together as buffaloes do to-day,
with the cows in the middle and the bulls showing a
fence of lowered heads to the enemy. It was about this
time, too, that, in crossing a stream, he stepped on an
alligator, and in trying to scramble ashore (his com-
panions all having run away at the first alarm), he twice
stumbled over the same (or another) reptile, which so
terrified him that he took an oath never to ford a river
on foot again. He has several notes on the habits of
the Indians— on their dress, for instance, in which
“ with their hair tied up in a knot behind, they think
themselves extream fine.” They also overrated their
local drink, a beverage made from tartilloes. “If they
treat a friend with this drink,” remarks Dampier dis-
paragingly, “ they mix a little honey with it ; for their
ability reaches no higher.” Yet “ this is as acceptable
to them as a glass of wine to us.” Their sleeping
“ hammocks,” however, were very comfortable — as
British sailors were already beginning to find out.
Dampier expresses a strong view that the converted
Indians, living near the Spanish towns, were very sincere
Christians ; and, summing the Indian question up, he
expresses this evidently typical opinion of an English-
man of his time : “ They are a harmless sort of people,
kind to any stranger ; and even to the Spaniards, by
whom they are so much kept under, that they are worse
than slaves : nay, the very Negroes will domineer over
them ; and are countenanced to do so by the Spaniards.”

I do not know how long Dampier remained on Beef
Island. But we notice about this time that his journal
begins to take on a more travelled air. His notes range
far afield. He discovers, for instance, that there is a
good opening for the hatters’ and haberdashers’ trades
in the Spanish settlements along the coast. Why, “ an

JOINS THE BUCCANEERS 53

old English beaver ” hat, if it be “ new-dressed ” would
fetch twenty dollars ! He exclaims at the stupidity of
the English “ privateers ” in always trying to get across
Mexico to the Pacific side — ^for instance to Tehuan-
tepec — “ supposing, as many do still, that the South Sea
shore is nothing but Gold and Silver.” He describes
the failure of Hewet and Rives in their expedition from
Triste to the River Goazacoalcos, designing to attack a
town near there, but they had to give it up because of
floods. Also the repulse of Hewet from before Estapo.^
In fact the doings of the privateers begin to occupy an
inexplicable amount of space. Then suddenly comes
the frank confession. He himself is a privateer — ^has
been one for months. The die is cast !

But Dampier, though he offers few excuses for his
conduct, is not sufficiently proud of his new profession
to give us the description of how he actually crossed
the Rubicon. There are several such deliberate omis-
sions in his books ; but this is the one that I regret
most of all. What is certain is that he could hardly
help himself. The storm had destroyed everything he
possessed ; logwood-cutting was at a standstill for at
least a year ; and there was no reason why ships should
continue to visit the lagoon in the interval. With the
aid of his gun a man might possibly have succeeded in
keeping himself alive among the Indians on Beef Island ;
but it was too much to expect that any sane person
should choose this alternative while any other offered.
In fact, as the excellent Smyth puts it, Dampier, who

^ I borrow the following extract as it stands from Mr* Philip Gosse’s
Pirates’ Who ’s Who : “ Hewett, William, or Hewet, or Hewit, of
Jamaica. One of Major Stede Bonnet’s crew. Tried for pirac7 at
Charleston in 1718, and hanged at White Point on November i8th,
and buried in the marsh before low-water mark.” Was Dampier by
any chance with Hewet in the Bay f He never mentions the name of
his commander.

WILLIAM DAMPIER

5 +

after nearly three years among “ such dissolute associates
as the logwood-cutters ” had yet “ escaped the moral
contamination of their vices and excesses,” was now
driven into even worse company “ by imperious neces-
sity.” Or, in Dampier’s simpler language, “ I with
many more in my circumstances was forced to range
about to seek a subsistence in company with some
privateers then in the Bay.”

The story of Dampier’s first voyage with the buc-
caneers is quickly told. “ In these rambles,” he says
(“ rambles ” is a good word, by the way), “ we visited
all the rivers from Triste to Alvarado ; and made many
descents into the country among the villages there.”
But he gives us very few details, except in regard to
their one serious encounter with the Spaniards. This
took place at Alvarado, a town near Vera Cruz, across
the Bay to the west. Here there was a real battle. In
two boats, holding thirty men each, the buccaneers
attacked the Spanish fort, and captured it after fierce
fighting, in which ten or eleven Englishmen were killed —
only to find that in the meantime the inhabitants of the
town had escaped in boats with all their money and
movable property. This was a nasty blow. The
English, however, took away with them some salt beef
and numbers of yellow and red parrots, which pleased
Dampier particularly “ because they would prate very
prettily.”

Now, what with beef, “ chests, hencoops and parrot-
cages,” the English ships were “ full of lumber,” when,
having rested themselves, and licked their wounds, the
buccaneers at last set sail again. As they left the river,
they encountered seven Spanish “ armadilloes,” which
had been sent from Vera Cruz to intercept them. But,
“ heaving all the lumber overboard ” — a sad end to the
parrots’ prating — “ we drove out over the bar ” ; and
after a confused fight with this vastly superior enemy,

JOINS THE BUCCANEERS 55

who, however, showed no great stomach for it, both
privateers got clear away. According to Dampier, the
two English ships had only eight guns between them,
and not above fifty men left after the fight on shore,
while the seven Spaniards had some ten and some four
guns, and crews of sixty to eighty men apiece. So that
there was nothing disgraceful about the buccaneers’
retreat.

Dampier had now been cruising and fighting for a
period of about twelve months. A new logwood-cutting
season had begun, and the effects of the late storm were
“ almost forgot.” He, and most of his immediate
associates, accordingly bade farewell to the privateers,
and returned with well-lined pockets to Terminos.
Dampier resumed operations on the eastern side of the
lagoon, as far removed as possible from One-Bush-Key.

He was as much attracted as ever to this “ most
profitable ” trade ; but he had made up his mind to pay
a visit to England at the first opportunity, “ with a
design to return hither.” At the beginning of April,
1678, he therefore sailed from Triste, and landed in
Jamaica, where he took passage for England with a
Captain Loder, and arrived there, after an uneventful
voyage, at the beginning of August of the same year.
He had been away four and a half years.

CHAPTER V

AND SINGES THE KING OF
SPAIN’S BEARD

N anonymous author of the late
seventeenth century who, for reasons
connected with the sale of his book,
apparently desires to be mistaken for
that rather backboneless buccaneer.
Captain Bartholomew Sharp,^ makes
the following interesting reflection in
his book called Voyages and Adven-
tures : “ That which often spurs men on to the under-
taking of the most difficult adventures is the sacred
hunger of Gold ; and ’twas Gold was the bait that
tempted a Pack of merry Boys of us, near three hundred
in number, being all Souldiers of Fortune, under com-
mand (by our own election) of Captain John Cox,
to . . in short, to become buccaneers.

Regarded as a general proposition, there is much
truth in that. Gold has been the stuff of romance in a
sense never dreamt of by misers. Dangled before the
Spanish conquistadores and the Elizabethan adventurers,
it recast the map of the world, and made such a change
in human mentality as has never taken place, before or
since, in so brief a period of time. But what “ Captain
Sharp ” appears to mean is simply that gold was the

^ The V lyages and Adventures of Captain Bartholomew Sharp in the
Being a Journal of the Same. London: 1684. Sharp’s own
manuscript journal is in the Sloane Collection. See page 66.

SINGES THE KING OF SPAIN’S BEARD 57

lure that attracted the buccaneers. This is not strictly
fair. The early buccaneers were, in the words of Andrew
Lang, “ the most hideously ruthless miscreants that ever
disgraced the earth and the sea.” But to describe them
as mere “ go-getters ” after wealth in the approved
modern manner, is to inflict an injustice on their
memories. As with the logwood-cutters, they could
hardly help themselves. Indeed, the cases of the buc-
caneers and the logwood-cutters were very similar, as I
shall presently show.

But the first thing we have to do is to get out of our
heads the idea that “ buccaneer ” was only another and
politer word for “ pirate.” Many of the pirates were
no doubt ex-buccaneers. But there would certainly have
been piracy in the West Indies, in the circumstances of
those days, if the buccaneers had never existed. The
rise of the buccaneers was a considerable movement,
almost a rebellion, of men of all nations — ^former slaves,
criminals, adventurers and what not — against the Spanish
authority. To class them with the pirates is like com-
paring the Spartacists of Ancient Rome with the foot-
pads of the eighteenth century. The pirates were
ordinary sea-robbers — small gangs of men, usually
mutinous seamen, who went about thieving and murder-
ing in a hole-and-corner way, and were shot at sight by
every honest man who happened to have a gun. But
the rise of the buccaneers was an insurrection of all the
discontented elements in the West Indies, directed
primarily against the Spanish rule. They fought both
by land and sea. They were formidable foes. The
pirates were their unworthy offspring.

We find the buccaneers first on the island of His-
paniola, or Haiti, engaged, like the logwood-cutters in
Campeachy Bay, in a highly lucrative, if dangerous,
trade, which the Spanish authorities were determined to
put a stop to if they could. Hispaniola was full of wild

WILLIAM DAMPIER

cattle, not only “ beeves ” (as the wild bulls and cows
were called) but horses and wild boars, and the buc-
caneers were simply hunters. They are believed to have
got their name from the boucans, or places where they
salted their meat. Their leading historian is the Dutch-
man, Esquemeling, who does not pretend to have been
happy in their company. He landed in Hispaniola in
about 1669, and describes the buccaneers as a savage
and dirty people, fearing neither God nor man, wearing
coarse linen garments which they steeped in the blood
of the animals they slaughtered, armed to the teeth, and
ready to murder any stranger who came among them.
Like the logwood-cutters, they spent all their money in
lewd and riotous living whenever they could get near
a town. Like them, too, they had a wonderful thirst.
They drank brandy “ as liberally as the Spaniards do
clear fountain water.” Sometimes two of them — for
they commonly hunted in couples, sharing everything
they possessed — ^would combine to buy a pipe of wine,
and this, says Esquemeling, “ they stave at the one end,
and never cease drinking till they have made an end of
it.” Nor, unfortunately, were the “ beastly delights ”
of the “ goddess Venus ” forgotten. The chronicler
spares us nothing.

Esquemeling’s narrative undoubtedly has the ring of
truth, and his story of the subsequent exploits of the
buccaneers when they left the island is among the classics
of seventeenth-centuiy travel literature.^ But though I
do not believe that he lied intentionally, it is difficult to
resist the impression that he did “ pile on the agony,”
when it came to describing the cruelties practised upon
the inhabitants of captured Spanish towns. He was a
most unwilling recruit among the buccaneers, and prob-
ably repeats a good deal of camp-fire gossip.

^ The Buccaneers of America. By John Esquemeling. English trans-
lation, 1684-85. New edition : Routledge, London, 1926*

SINGES THE KING OF SPAIN’S BEARD 59

At any rate, there was war to the knife between the
Spaniards and these islanders. The latter, most of whom
at this time were Frenchmen, would retire to the neigh-
bouring island of Tortuga, when they found things
getting too hot for them on Hispaniola, and from thence
make sudden descents to collect more cattle. The
Spaniards, with their usual shortsighted obstinacy, were
prepared to go to the length of slaughtering all the
cattle on the island rather than that the French should
make any profit out of them. At last, the inevitable
happened. The buccaneers, despairing of earning their
living by any peaceful means, took finally to the sword,
and were engaged for the rest of their history in an
irregular and predatory warfare both by land and sea —
yet something quite distinct from common piracy —
against the Spanish authority throughout the West
Indies.

And with the occasion, there arose the men. At
Esquemeling’s landing, there were not more than three
hundred buccaneers in Tortuga ; but, scattered about
the different islands, their numbers were rapidly in-
creasing, and leaders of first-rate ability had already
appeared who were well able to make a deadly use of
this tremendous fighting instrument.

These leaders, in the beginning, were not necessarily
seamen, nor were their principal exploits performed at
sea. Lewis Scott, who appears to have been the first
to operate on the grand scale, captured and sacked
Campeachy Town — ^with what kind of following, French,
English, or mixed, we are not told. Mansvelt, and
John Davis of Jamaica, also deserve mention. Davis
coolly walked into the town of Nicaragua with a mere
handful of followers, and began to pillage the principal
houses, and rob the churches of their sacred vessels,
“ without any respect or veneration.” When he had
collected as much as he coidd carry away, he made his

WILLIAM DAMPIER

escape before the town guard could rally against him.
But L’Olonois, the Frenchman, who had been sold as a
slave in the Caribbee Islands, and escaped to lead the
buccaneers, was an abominable villain, whose cruelty
overshadows even his courage and skill. He had a
fleet of eight vessels, and captured many towns and
villages, torturing and murdering the inhabitants without
compunction. On one occasion he is said to have cut
open the breast of a captured Spaniard, and “ pulling
out his heart with his sacrilegious hands, began to bite
and gnaw it with his teeth, like a ravenous wolf.” ^
This “ infernal wretch,” as Esquemeling calls him, met
a suitably horrible death at the hands of hostile Indians.
Others of standing among these early buccaneers were
the Dutchman, Roche Brasiliano, who had been ill-
treated by the Spaniards, and cherished an inveterate
hatred against them ; and Bartholomew Portugues, who
deserves to be remembered for his escape from imprison-
ment at Campeachy Town, and his long journey over-
land to the Terminos Lagoon, covering a distance of
forty leagues in a fortnight, and having nothing to eat
on the way but a few shellfish.

But the greatest of all the buccaneers was undoubtedly
Henry Morgan — “ our English-Jamaican hero,” as he
is magnificently styled on the title-page of the English
translation of Esquemeling. And it is when we come
to consider Morgan’s career that we begin to doubt
Esquemeling’s simple view of the wicked buccaneers —
or, at any rate, to realize that there are two sides to the
case. Morgan was a big man, in every sense of the
word. He commanded fleets of fifty sail, or more, and
guns enough to oppose any armament that could be
brought against him. In fact, he frequently held undis-
puted command of the seas in those parts. He led land
armies, as in his famous expedition across the Isthmus
^ Esquemeling.

SINGES THE KING OF SPAIN’S BEARD 6i

of Panama, which no local authority could hope to with-
stand. Apart from the magnificent fighting quality of
his men, collected from every country in Europe except
Spain, they were numerous enough to enable him to
conquer whole islands, hoist the English flag over them,
and occupy them for as long as he found convenient.

It is significant, by the way, that the buccaneers seem
invariably to have fought under the. national flag of their
leader, whoever he might be, whereas their piratical
descendants flew the Jolly Roger, or (more commonly,
I think) a disreputable blood-red flag. Relations were
nearly always perfectly friendly between each leader of
the early buccaneers and his own particular national
authorities. De Susco was made Governor of Tortuga,
and the French^ authorities, on at least one occasion,
employed a buccaneer fleet against the Dutch. Morgan
had the support of the Jamaican authorities, and he ended
up with a knighthood and a comfortable billet as Lieu-
tenant-Governor of the island.

Yet Esquemeling accuses him of every imaginable
atrocity, of burning and slaying without distinction of
sex or age, of hanging up his prisoners over “ slow fires ”
in order to make them tell him where treasure lay hid,
of having Spanish ladies carried off to his tent, and, in
general, of running a good second to L’Olonois in
villainy. Morgan, however, has not been without his
defenders. In Sharp’s V oyages and Adventures.^ for
instance, it is pointed out, with some plausibility, that
Morgan’s forces were always well disciplined ; that
mere idle destruction and cruelty were not in his own
interests ; that he was not an escaped slave with a
passion for revenge (as Esquemeling alleges), but a man
of good family from Monmouthshire, who had gone out
to the West Indies as a soldier ; and finally that there
was, in practice, a state of war between ourselves and
Spain in the West Indies (though no formal declaration

WILLIAM DAMPIER

had been made) right up to the settlement in 1670 ; and
that anyhow Morgan held a commission from Sir Thomas
Muddiford,^ the Governor, and was therefore to be
regarded as doing what he did in the service of King
Charles.

To sum up, I do not think that we can believe Esque-
meling in regard to details. There is no evidence but
his for the allegation that Morgan enjoyed torturing
prisoners. What may have happened in the heat of
battle is quite another story. The men of the seven-
teenth century were not naturally and coldly cruel like
those of the sixteenth ; but we have only to remember
Tilly in Germany and Cromwell in Ireland to realize
that they were capable of almost anything when their
blood was up. Morgan was a brutal soldier, but he
was not a pirate. Pirates would as soon have robbed
and murdered an English crew as any other ; they were
enemies of society, common felons, their hand against
every man, and every man’s hand against them.® To
describe such a man as Morgan as a pirate is as foolish
as it would be to call Long John Silver a pickpocket.®

One word as to the state of the buccaneering profes-
sion at the moment when Dampier decided temporarily
to join its ranks. “ Privateering,” as it was now called,
had lost its character of an armed rebellion, and was
rapidly settling down as a regular line of business in
the West. On the other hand, it had not yet become
too disreputable for a man like Dampier to touch. The
wholesale crimes of L’Olonois had not yet given place

^ His Jamaica estate, the Angels, happened to be next to that of
Colonel Helyar, where Dampier had worked.

® Yet we learn that, as late as 1718, the Governor of Nortlt Carolina
had the bad taste to be present in person at the wedding of that worst of
pirates, “ Blackboard ” Teach.

* As Coleridge remarks, i propos of the Elizabethan adventurers,
“ No man is a pirate unless his contemporaries agree to call him so.”
Table-Talk, Mar. 17th, 1832.

SINGES THE KING OF SPAIN'S BEARD 63

to the paltry rascalities of a Captain Kidd. In fact, the
business was for the moment almost respectable. We
shall find these later buccaneers piously observing
Sundays and Christmas Day, and hear from an eye-
witness how one of their commanders indignantly threw
overboard the dice with which he found some members
of his crew profaning the Sabbath. Dampier, as we
have seen, professedly joined them for no other purpose
than to see the world : and everything that we know of
his character seems to support that profession. Andrew
Lang, in his famous denunciation of the buccaneers,
was careful to make an exception of Dampier, singling
him out by name ; but the truth is that there must
have been scores of others in Sharp’s company who were
no more to be classed as criminals than Dampier was.
Basil Ringrose, who has written the best description of
the voyage, was a gentleman, and even something of a
scholar. And others who have left records behind, like
Wafer the surgeon, were obviously decent men, who
never dreamt that they were doing anything morally
wrong. They were not proud of being buccaneers, and
their governments were not proud of them ; but they
certainly never expected to be punished for it by any-
one, except possibly the Spanish monopolists whose
trade regulations they defied. It was, perhaps, rather
like being a rum-runner on the American coast
to-day.

We left Dampier enjoying a brief holiday in England.
But brief as it was, he found time to get married — a sort
of “ war-marriage,” though more successful than most
of them. The lady was from the household of the Duke
of Grafton, and her Christian name was Judith, but
that is literally all we know of her. Apparently she
never bore him any children. In the following^ spring
(1679) he was off again on his wanderings, booking as a
passenger on board the “ Loyal Merchant,” of London,

WILLIAM DAMPIER

bound for Jamaica. His intention was to revisit the
Bay of Campeachy, and trade with the logwood-cutters,
for which purpose he brought with him a consignment
of such goods as he knew would have a ready sale in
those quarters — ^hats, for instance, sugar, saws, axes,
stockings, shoes and, of course, rum. But after landing
at Port Royal, he changed his plans, “ upon some
maturer considerations,” the nature of which he does
not confide to us. He sold his goods at Jamaica, and
remained there for the rest of the year, looking about
for suitable employment.

In the end, he very nearly returned to England. He
happened to hear of “ a small estate in Dorsetshire, near
my native county of Somerset,” and promptly bought it
from the title-holder, intending to sail for England about
Christmas time, in order to see his new property. In
fact, he was just about to embark, when a certain Mr.
Hobby proposed to him a short trading voyage to the
country of the Mosquito Indians, and Dampier, thinking
it advisable to raise a little more money before returning
to England, consented to go with him. Though he did
not know it at the time, this was one of the most im-
portant decisions of his career. For Captain Hobby,
after leaving Port Royal, happened to put in at Negril
Bay, at the western end of the island of Jamaica. To
his surprise he found the harbour full of ships. Closer
investigation revealed a whole fleet of the “ privateers,”
who had recently made a rendezvous there. There
were nearly a dozen ships in all, mounting about fifty
guns, and the crews numbering 477 men. The com-
manders were Sawkins, Coxon, Harris, Sharp, Cook and
others, assisted by two French privateers.

It was a lively scene ; for the little fleet was in high
fettle. This new concentration of forces was reminiscent
of the great days of Sir Henry Morgan ; and the leaders
were, as a fact, at that moment planning a descent upon

SINGES THE KING OF SPAIN’S BEARD 65

the unfortunate town of Porto Bello, which Morgan
himself had sacked only a few years before. Provisions
were abundant, rum flowed freely, and we can believe
that a hearty welcome was accorded to Hobby’s ship,
the latest arrival, when it appeared in their midst. Boats
plied to and fro. Hobby’s men mingled with the buc-
caneers, and, learning that a long expedition was being
“ contrived,” they at once deserted in a body, “ leaving,”
says Dampier, “ not one with him beside myself.”
Dampier stuck by the unfortunate Hobby for three or
four days, and then he too was “ persuaded to go with
them.” Whereupon Mr. Hobby disappears from our
history. A few days later, the buccaneer fleet set sail
for Porto Bello.

Before entering upon this new episode in Dampier’s
career, let us glance at our “ authorities,” who happen
to be numerous, varied and entertaining. The first is
Dampier himself — clear, concise, disinterested, so aloof
from his companions that he might almost be describing
a voyage he never saw ; and alas 1 so brief. The
second and best — because by far the fullest and as
honest as Dampier himself — is Basil Ringrose, gentle-
man and scholar, whose knowledge of Latin once enabled
him to save the lives of a whole boat-load of British
buccaneers, by acting as interpreter between them and
the Spaniards. “ He had no mind to this voyage,” says
his friend, Dampier, “ but was necessitated to engage in
it, or starve.” His artless narrative is as good a thing
of its kind as can be found anywhere in our travel
literature. Unfortunately, Ringrose was killed in action
at the taking of Santiago in Mexico, in 1686, and never
got back to England to see his book through the press.
In the meantime, a friend of Captain Sharp’s (probably
William Hacke) ^ got at the manuscript, and, in addition
to a lot of quite unnecessary editing, inserted here and

1 See Smyth.

WILLIAM DAMPIER

there passages in praise of Sharp, whom Ringrose had
very seldom mentioned, and probably despised. I shall
note some of the more humorous of these interpolations
as we go along. Ringrose’s book, as it first appeared ^
(as a second volume of Esquemeling) and as it has
recently been reprinted in a very handy form for modern
readers,^ is therefore, unfortunately, not his own ; but
his original manuscript happily exists and may be seen
in the British Museum.®

Captain Sharp has given his own account of the
affair — brief but lively.^ Then there is the excellent
Cox,® a simple sailorman of New England, who dedicates
his journal — ^it is, for the most part, only his day-to-day
log — to the Duke of Albemarle, explaining that “ a
formall epistle ” would be “ a task beyond the capacity
of a sayler ” ; and, therefore, begs his lordship “ to
accepte this journal in the Plaine Tarpaulin Habbitt in
which you will find it.” Sharp hates Cox, describing
him as a man whom he (Sharp) had helped to advance-
ment “ from old acquaintance ” and not “ from any
valour or knowledge he was possessed of.” Cox, on
the other hand, is notably fair to Sharp. Sharp, in fact,
is a typical smooth-tongued “ climber,” a man who could
always talk his shipmates round, but could never lead
them in a fight. Cox is an ordinary, thick-headed
sailorman.

Lionel Wafer, whose journal has already been quoted,®
was a young chemist’s assistant, who went to sea as a
surgeon’s mate. There are some curious similarities

^ The Buccaneers of America, vol. ii., containing the dangerous voyage
and bold attempts of Captain Bartholomew Sharp. From the original
journal of the said voyage, written by Mr. Basil Ringrose, gent. London :
1684.

* The Buccaneers of America. New Edition. Routledge: 1926.

® Sloane Collection, No. 3820.

* Sloane Collection, No. 46 a and b»

® Sloane Collection, No. 49. * Page 44.

SINGES THE KING OF SPAIN’S BEARD 67

between his career and Dampier’s. His first long voyage
was to Bantam, and his second to Jamaica, where he
had a brother employed by Sir Thomas Muddiford, at
the Angels plantation, next door to that of the Helyars
at Sixteen-Mile-Walk. He was in practice as a surgeon
at Port Royal when he fell into the society of the
privateers. He was about ten years younger than
Dampier and evidently made a hero of him ; for his
rather rambling account of this voyage— obviously
written some time afterwards — ^makes frequent and
admiring references to “ Mr. Dampier,” whereas in the
other journals we are dealing with Dampier is hardly
mentioned at all. We must remember, however, that
Dampier’s book, which had a great success, was being
widely talked about at the time when Wafer wrote. It
would, therefore, be unsafe to assume that Dampier
played quite the prominent part in these adventures
which Wafer assigns to him.

Finally, there are two less reliable authorities. In an
additional chapter, appended to the second edition of
the History of the Buccaneers^ there is an account of the
voyage said to have been written by one of those present,
and wearing, in places, the appearance of having been
compiled by Sharp himself ; but this can hardly be, for
the story ends with a description of Sharp’s discreditable
disappearance from England, after committing an act of
piracy in the Channel and stealing some cattle from
Romney Marsh. And lastly, there is the unknown quill-
driver whom I quoted at the opening of this chapter,
and who seems to have “ cribbed ” nearly all his facts
from Cox. So much for our authorities.

The Porto Bello affair was soon over. The buc-
caneers landed two hundred men, who crept through the
surrounding forests, and by a sudden dash succeeded in
surprising the place. The town surrendered promptly —
it was becoming a habit with it — and the conquerors

WILLIAM DAMPIER

divided among themselves booty to the value of ;^4o a
head, not counting the extra shares awarded according
to custom to the various commanders. They were now
free to attempt some more arduous adventure elsewhere.
After many conferences, in which Dampier certainly took
no part, a really sporting decision was arrived at. It
was resolved to march by land across the Isthmus of
Darien, and try their luck “ upon some new adventures
in the South Seas.” They were sure in advance of the
support of the Darien Indians, who hated the Spaniards
as much as they had loved the English ever since a
certain Captain Wright, fifteen years before, had be-
friended an Indian lad, clothed him, and fed him,
christened him with the curious name of John Gret, and
sent him back to his kindred.

But they were sure of nothing else. Of the country
they had to traverse, its jungles and rivers and fever-
laden swamps, of how long the march would take them,
what provisions they might require, and what resistance
they must expect from the Spaniards of the coast towns,
when they reached the other side, they knew nothing
whatever — except from the vague descriptions of their
Indian friends. Nothing deterred by this, the fleet
assembled at an island called the Golden Island, in the
Gulf of Darien, which had been appointed as their
rendezvous ; and here the English prepared to make
their landing on the mainland, leaving a strong party
behind to protect their ships in their absence. The two
French privateers, however, parted company, misliking
the idea of this inland voyage.

The English rowed ashore, and proceeded to draw up
by companies upon the beach. They made a brave
show, as their captains marshalled them in their ranks
under the blazing sun. The dress of the men would
conform to no fixed rule ; but then, as now, a sailor was
easily distinguishable by his clothes, and of these we

SINGES THE KING OF SPAIN’S BEARD 69

may obtain some rough idea from the list of “ slops ”
provided for the Royal Navy at that time. For the
Navy had no uniform yet ; it wore, like the buccaneers,
the ordinary seaman’s garments of the period. These
would consist of jackets of grey kersey, a kind of coarse
woollen cloth ; blue waistcoats ; wide petticoat breeches,
striped “ crosswise” in crimson, and reaching to the knee ;
under them linen drawers ; black stockings and shoes ;
and red caps, with loosely tied white neckcloths.^ Not
a bad dress for this particular occasion, provided that
the stockings were thick enough to keep out mos-
quitoes.

Captain Sharp had been ill (I suspect him of sea-
sickness), but as commander-in-chief, he was given the
van. His company marched first. They had a red
flag with a bunch of white and green ribbons. Next
came Sawkins’s men, with a red flag striped with yellow.
Then two companies under Captain Peter Harris, having
two green flags ; then John Coxon, with two companies,
flying red flags ; and finally Captain Edmund Cook,
whose colours were “ red, striped with yellow, with a
hand and sword for his device.” The men were armed
with fusee, pistol and hanger, and carried three or four
“ doughboys,” or hard dumplings, boiled in sea-water.
“ For drink,” says Ringrose, “ the rivers afforded
enough.” There were 327 ^ men in all, with six Indians
to guide them. Dampier was with Sharp’s company.

And so, turning their backs upon the white beach,
they marched into the dark shadow of the tropical
forests. Their ships moved away, and for all that any

^ See Mariner^ s Mirror^ January, 1924, “ Dress of British Seamen,”
by G. E. Manwaring. There is no idea yet of “ Navy-blue.” Indeed
officers were often dressed in scarlet, and there seems to have been some
danger that red would come to be regarded as the characteristic seaman’s
colour. The familiar blue and white uniform was not adopted until 1 748.

2 Cox says 330 English and 7 French.

WILLIAM DAMPIER

Spanish cruiser could have seen a few minutes later
there might never have been an Englishman on that
deserted shore.

This famous march began on the 5th of April, 1680 •
and that very first night some showers of rain fell. But
it cleared up later, and the little army slept comfortably
enough, “ having,” as Cox says in an unusual burst of
eloquence, “ the cold ground for our bedding and the
spangled firmament for our covering.” The tempera-
ture would be about 90° in the shade. On the 6th
they continued their march, climbing a steep mountain,
where the paths were so narrow that only one man at
a time could pass, and descending towards evening into
a valley on the other side. About noon on April 7th
they reached a native town and were handsomely enter-
tained by the chief, whom they called “ King Golden
Cap,” His garments appear to have consisted almost
entirely of beaten gold — ^which made John Cox’s mouth
water ! After a short rest, they continued their march
along the banks of a river, and on April 9th, Sharp,
Coxon, Cook and sixty others embarked in canoes which
the Indians provided, but found this even more fatiguing
than travelling by land, because of the fallen trees and
other obstructions in the water. However, they got
well ahead of their companions, and on the 12th were
close to Santa Maria, a town on the river of that name,
which runs into the Bay of Panama, by the Gulf of San
Miguel. They saw many wild beasts, but were afraid
to fire at them, lest the sound of the shots should give
warning to the Spaniards. Bartholomew Sharp was
particularly interested in the wild hogs, and no wonder,
for he “ observed that the navels of these kinds of
animals grew upon their backs.” ^ Next day the main

Shelvocke, the privateer commander, claims to have noted tlie same
phenomenon thirty years later. See his Voyage Round the World, London,
1726.

SINGES THE KING OF SPAIN’S BEARD 71

body joined them, and after a night’s rest, the advance
upon the town of Santa Maria was begun.

The entire force, with the addition of fifty more
Indians, was carried down the river in a fleet of sixty-
eight canoes, and landed at midnight at a point about
half a mile from the town. The banks were so thick
in mud that it was only by clinging to the branches of
the trees that the men could drag themselves ashore,
after which they had to hew their way through the
tropical undergrowth in the dark till they reached a spot
where they might rest unperceived by their enemies until
dawn. But very early in the morning, almost before it
was light, they were startled to hear a discharge of fire-
arms in the town, followed by the beating of a drum,
which showed pretty plainly that the Spaniards had been
warned. The English, therefore, armed themselves in
haste, and emerging from the wood, with a loud cheer
advanced rapidly across the open.

The Spanish garrison retired before them into “ a
large palisaded fort, having each pale or post twelve
foot high,” and from thence “ began to fire very briskly
at us as we came.” The buccaneers’ advance guard, or
“ forlorn,” under that particularly gallant fellow, Sawkins
(Sharp claims to have been with them, too, though it is
not clear why, and, in view of his subsequent record,
not very likely), went ahead at the double, and, coming
up to the palisades, forced their way in, and in a few
minutes were masters of the fort. According to Ring-
rose, there were 260 Spaniards inside, and not above
fifty assailants. The Spaniards lost over forty killed and
wounded, the buccaneers only two. There was no
further resistance, and our adventurers rushed eagerly
into the town, in search of loot.

Alas ! it turned out to be but “ a little pitiful place,”
very different from the wealthy metropolis which the
imagination of their Indian allies had conjured up.

WILLIAM DAMPIER

Worse still, the Governor and all the chief men had
made a timely “ get-away,” taking with them most of
the gold and valuables. The only people who got any
satisfaction out of the capture were the Indians, who
^used themselves by taking the Spanish prisoners out
into the adjoining woods and murdering them there
until their European allies put a stop to it. Moreover^
King Golden Cap’s daughter, who had been held captive
here by the Spaniards, was released and restored to her
fond parent’s bejewelled breast — a romantic little incident
certainly, but of secondary interest to a party of hard-
headed Englishmen whose minds were running on pieces
of eight.

With their appetites no more than whetted, the buc-
caneers left Santa Maria, and pressed on eagerly towards
the coast. The end of their long march was now
approaching. On the second day out from Santa Maria,
a faint blue ribbon was seen upon the far horizon.

About eleven of the clock,” says Sharp, “ we had a
sight of the fair South Sea ” ; and, like Xenophon’s
Greeks two thousand years before, they must have hailed
it with cries of joy. Apparently they had hardly any
sick on this long march, though the climate of the
peninsula is notoriously dangerous for Europeans.

^ It should be explained that they had come down the
river in their canoes, and their first vague intention was
to proceed in them against the important town of
Panama, the scene of Morgan’s most resounding exploit.^
Near the mouth of the river they captured a small ship,
and there was, not unnaturally, something of a rush to
get on board of her, especially among those who were
in the less seaworthy canoes. Ringrosc in his MS. says
simply that “ there got in 137 men with Captain Sharp
and Captain Cook.” The published (and doctored)

^ He cEptured and sacked the town in 1670, and then slipped away
With nearly all the booty, leaving his followers in the lurch.

•oj/i the Macpherson Collection

SINGES THE KING OF SPAIN’S BEARD 73

edition of his work says : “ There embarked thereon
to the number of 137 of our company, together with
that sea-artist and valiant commander, Captain Bartholo-
mew Sharp ” — ^and adds slightingly that “ with him went
also on board Captain Cook.” As a matter of fact,
Cook was by far the more “ valiant commander ” of
the two.

But it soon became apparent that the Spaniards had
again received warning of their enemies’ approach,
"^^en the canoes came in sight of Panama on the morning
of April 25th, they found the garrison standing to arms,
and a fleet, consisting of five “ great ships ” and three
“ pretty big barks ” of the armadillo type, drawn up
outside to receive them. There followed a brisk sea-
fight, which Ringrose vividly describes. The English
were not in full strength. Sharp with some of the canoes
having been detached on a minor expedition, and failing
to return in time. Ringrose indeed asserts that not
68 Englishmen were engaged against a Spanish fleet
which must have carried at least 200 men on the
armadilloes alone. In fact, the Spanish ships were
unwisely overcrowded.

As the canoes approached in line, the three arma-
dilloes advanced boldly to meet them, and the first,
commanded by Don Diego de Carabanal, broke through
the English line, firing destructive broadsides to right
and left as she passed. But as the Admiral, Don
Jacinto de Barahona, attempted to follow, a shot from
one of the canoes killed his helmsman, so that his ship
ran into the wind and lay for a moment helpless, just
between the canoe commanded by Sawkins and that in
which Ringrose was. Instantly the canoes clustered
round the Spaniard like angry wasps. The buccaneers
discharged volley after volley from their small arms into
the Admiral’s crowded decks. The third armadillo
approaching in its turn was met by Sawkins ’s canoe.

7 +

WILLIAM DAMPIER

■which closed with it, and a desperate struggle ensued.
A powder barrel exploded in the Spanish ship, throwing
several men overboard, whereupon the gallant captain,
Don Peralta, though himself badly burned about the
hands, sprang into the water and rescued them. Imme-
diately afterwards, however, there was another explosion,
and Sawkins, a dashing leader, taking instant advantage
of the confusion, succeeded in boarding the ship and
forcing the survivors to surrender. In the meantime,
the Admiral had been killed and his ship boarded by
Coxon and Harris, the latter of whom was shot through
both legs and mortally wounded. Here, too, the
Spaniards surrendered. The slaughter had been ter-
rible. On Captain Peralta’s ship only twenty-five
Spaniards were left alive out of eighty-six.

The buccaneers had lost eighteen killed and twenty-
two wounded. But apart from this loss in man power,
which they could ill aferd, they had eveiy reason to be
satisfied with their performance. They now possessed
two roomy and convenient vessels in which to go
a-cruising in the South Seas ; and they had evidently
produced a considerable moral effect, for it is to
be noticed that the first armadillo, after breaking
through their line, was careful not to return to help its
consort ; while the three “ great ships,” one of which
had a crew of 300 men, sat tight in the harboiu*, and
never even came out. The captured Spaniard, Captain
Peralta, “ would often break out in admiration of our
valour,” declaring that Englishmen were “ the valiantest
men in the whole world, who designed always to fight
open, whilst all other nations invented all the ways
imaginable to barricade themselves and fight as close as
they could.”

After this engagement, the buccaneers landed on the
island of Perico, partly to bury Captain Harris and other
dead, and partly to rest themselves, and wait for the

SINGES THE KING OF SPAIN’S BEARD 75

arrival of Sharp, with whom, I think, was Dampier. It
should be mentioned that, after the affair at Santa Maria,
the smooth-tongued Sharp had been deposed from the
chief command,^ which was given to Coxon. Sharp
says that this was done as a bribe to induce Coxon to
continue with the expedition, he being a discontented,
quarrelsome fellow, who was always threatening to turn
back. That description of Coxon is true enough. On
one occasion, he had attempted to murder Harris by
shooting at him in consequence of some altercation. He
now became more troublesome than ever, and, finally,
left the expedition with his company, announcing his
intention of returning overland by the way they had
come. His departure was particularly discreditable, for
he left many of his wounded on their hands, and he took
away with him the best surgeon and nearly all the
medicines they had. Sawkins, the popular hero of the
sea-fight, was appointed in his stead. The buccaneers
were a discontented, mutinous, muddle-headed crowd,
who changed their .commanders every few months just
for the sake of change ; but they knew a brave man
when they saw one. They seem also to have been
genuinely fond of Sawkins. He never had to face the
familiar charge of trying to cheat his men.

The buccaneers remained near Panama for ten days,
during which time they captured several Spanish mer-
chant ships, and sent away “ all the meanest of the
prisoners ” on one of them. Then they moved on to
some of the other islands, making further captures as
they went. In the interval, Sawkins exchanged messages
with the Governor of Panama, from whom he demanded
a heavy tribute and a promise “ not any further to annoy
the Indians.” The Governor, in reply, demanded to

^ Ringrose says for his “ backwardness in the fight,” but these words are
deliberately suppressed by Hacke in the published version of Ringrose’s
narrative !

WILLIAM DAMPIER

see his commission ; whereupon Sawkins answered, with
a fine Elizabethan flourish, “ That as yet all his company
were not come together ; but that when they were
come up we would come and visit him at Panama, and
bring our Commissions on the muzzles of our guns, at
which time he should read them as plain as the flame
of gunpowder could make them.”

But no such triumph was in store for poor Sawkins.
Shortly after this, growing tired of wandering among
the islands, the buccaneers determined to make an attack
in force upon the town of Puebla Nueva, near the mouth
of the river on the mainland. They found the Spaniards
well prepared. For a mile below the town, they had
blocked the river with fallen trees, and they had raised
three strong breastworks before the town itself.^ At-
tacking with their usual impetuosity, the buccaneers met
with a severe repulse. They could not reach the breast-
works, and Sawkins, their leader, and many others were
shot dead (May 25th, 1680).

Dampier, who briefly describes the engagement, came
off as usual without a scratch. But the death of Sawkins
was a terrible blow : “a man,” says Ringrose, “ as valiant
as any could be.” ^ He was not only a first-class
buccaneer, but a person of high principles, and a strict
Sabbatarian. Sundays were always observed on his
ships. It is of him that Ringrose tells the curious story
that, as he walked the decks one Sunday morning, he
observed to his horror certain members of his crew
engaged in play, and of how he immediately seized the
dice and threw them overboard, declaring that “ he
would have no gambling aboard his ship.” As to his

^ Sharp says that a “ renegade Frenchman ” showed the inhabitants
how to build these defences. The use of the word “ renegade ” is
inter^ting as showing the attitude of other nationalities towards the
Spanish in the West.

® And Hacke adds : “ next to Captain Sharp ” !

SINGES THE KING OF SPAIN’S BEARD 77

courage, even Sharp, the deposed commander, usually
a most ungenerous critic, refers regretfully to the death
of “ the brave Captain Sawkins.” Evidently a great
“ character,” who might have become one of the most
famous of all the buccaneers, had he lived.

It was not easy to replace him, and fresh dissensions
immediately broke out. Sharp went aboard “ La Trini-
dad,” the biggest of the captured armadilloes, and there
with his usual eloquence addressed the assembled
buccaneers, setting forth the facts of the situation.
Would they stay with him or attempt the overland
march again back to their ships } At the conclusion of
his speech, those who from motives of loyalty or greed,
or merely because (like Ringrose) they were afraid to
trust themselves among the Indians ashore, had re-
solved to remain under his command, were distributed
among the various ships ; while the malcontents, to the
number of sixty-three, returned homewards in Coxon’s
footsteps, taking with them the remainder of the Indians.
Dampier, as always, chose the adventurous course, not
because he had any respect for Sharp, but in the hope
of new experiences. It is possible that he may have
had some influence on the next important decision,
which was to leave the neighbourhood of Panama, and
sail southward for the coast of Peru.

The principal commanders were now Sharp, Cook and
John Cox, one of the chroniclers of the voyage, who had
been given the command of a prize. Ringrose describes
him as “ a kinsman of Captain Sharp.” ^ The captured
Spaniard, Captain Peralta, was still with them, and seems
to have acted very willingly as their pilot.

The southward voyage began on June 6th, and on

^ But Hacfce alters Ringrose’s text to read : “ John Cox, an inhabitant
of New England, who forced kindred, as was thought, upon Captain
Sharp, out of old acquaintance, in this conjuncture of time, only to
advance himself.”

WILLIAM DAMPIER

the 17th they came in sight of the island of Gorgona,^
where they went ashore, and regaled themselves on a
varied menu of “ Indian conies, monkeys, snakes, oysters,
conches, periwinkles and a few small turtle, with some
other sorts of good fish.” Here too they cut away the
roundhouse and upper works of the poop on the
“ Trinidad,” which were built very high in the Spanish
manner, also “ all the high carved work belonging to
the stern of the ship, for when we took her from the
Spaniards before Panama she was high as any third-
rate ship in England ” — i.e. much too high for her size,
according to English ideas of seamanship. Sailing on
southward, with the intention of attacking the town of
Arica on the mainland near Tacna, they had the mis-
fortune to part company with Cox’s ship, which was not
seen again for a month, when they found him at anchor
off the Isle of Plate. Here they killed a number of
tortoises ^ and goats for salting.

Leaving this island, they sighted a Spanish merchant
ship, gave chase and captured her after a stiff fight.
They found 3276 pieces-of-eight on board ; but for
some reason this does not seem to have improved their
tempers, for two days later they disgraced themselves
by murdering an unfortunate priest who had been chap-
lain of the prize, shooting him and “ casting him over-
board before he was dead.” Rin^rose (and we can
believe him) “ abhorred such cruelties,” but dared not
interfere. Dampier, who must have shared his senti-
ments, never mentions the incident, nor does he even
allude to any of the captures made at sea. It has been
assumed by his biographers that this was because he

^ According to one of Hacke’s interpolations in Ringrose, Sharp had
the cool cheek to change the name Gorgona into Sharp Island.” Sharp
himself says nothing of it.

® The inevitable Hacke rushes in with the assertion that Captain
Sharp showed himself especially “ ingenious in striking them,”

SINGES THE KING OF SPAIN’S BEARD 79

was ashamed of them ; but in regard to the mere capture
of Spanish ships, I think it more reasonable to accept
his own explanation, which is that he had not space for
details, having deliberately decided to compress this part
of his voyage “ in this short compass,” and hurry on to
later events of more importance from the point of view
of geographical exploration. That he saw nothing
wrong in taking Spanish ships in peace time is shown
by his frank allusions to such captures in other parts of
his writings. He was much too honest a chronicler to
“ doctor ” his records.

Unfortunately, pieces-of-eight are of little use upon
the high seas, and a week later the buccaneers found
themselves so short of provisions that they were reduced
to an allowance of “ only two draughts of water ” each
day. They captured a small Spanish ship, but as it
was necessary to cut away all her masts except one, lest
she should reach the coast ahead of them and give
warning of their coming, they had not the heart to
deprive her crew of their water supply, and so sailed on
towards Arica thirstier than ever.^ On September 29th
their rations were still further reduced to three and a
half pints of water and one cake of boiled bread.

On October 26th they at last arrived off Arica, and
sent in their canoes in the hope of surprising the place.
But they found “ a general alarm through the whole
country,” six ships riding at anchor with their guns
ready, and a large force drawn up to oppose their landing.
So they landed at another point, farther up the coast,
and sacked the small town of Hilo, carrying off quantities
of provisions in full view of a force of mounted Spaniards
who looked feebly on.® Unfortunately these provisions

1 Ordinary pirates would have felt no such compunction.

^ It turned out afterwards, however, that they were mere boys, half
of them unarmed, and commanded, surprisingly, by a local English
resident.

WILLIAM DAMPIER

included very little fresh meat, and when the southward
voyage was resumed, it was found that the crews were
suffering from scurvy. But they had luckily seized a
small quantity of chocolate, “ whereof the Spaniards
make infinite use,” and it was presently discovered that
“ a dish of this pleasant liquor ” — ^yet so strange to the
buccaneering palate — ^was an efficacious remedy, if taken
first thing every morning.^

They now fetched a compass, and, giving Arica a
wide berth, steered S.S.E. for the town of La Serena on
the mainland, some six hundred miles farther south.
Arriving there on December 2nd, they landed in their
canoes, and advanced against the town, which turned
out to be a considerable place, containing seven churches.
But once again the Spaniards (who must have out-
numbered the buccaneers by at least five to one) had
been warned of their approach, and had fled, taking
with them “ the most precious of their goods and jewels ”
and everything else they could carry. They had also
killed most of their Chilean slaves, in order to save them
from the temptation to help the invaders ! In these
circumstances, the disappointed buccaneers must have
found the empty town of La Serena serene to the point
of boredom ; and they would probably have destroyed
it out of hand if the Spaniards had not sent in a flag of
truce on the following morning, offering to ransom the
place rather than see it burnt. But it was only a ruse ;
and after two days of profitless haggling the English
marched back to their ships, contemptuously brushing
aside a Spanish ambuscade which they encountered on
the way. They found that in their absence an ingenious
attempt had been made to burn their principal ship.
Ringrose gives the following account of this stratagem :

“ They (the Spaniards) blew up a horse’s hide like a
1 Some thirty years later we find Shelvocke’s men drinking it regularly.

SINGES THE KING OE SPAIN’S BEARI) §t

bladder, and upon this float a man ventured to swim
from shore and come under the stern of our ship. Being
arrived there, he crammed oakum and brimstone and
other combustible matter between the rudder and the
stern-post. Having done this, he fired it with a match,
so that in a small time our rudder was on fire, and all
the ship in a smoke. Our men, both alarmed and
amazed, with this smoke, ran up and down the ship,
suspecting the prisoners to have fired the vessel, thereby
to get their liberty and seek our destruction. At last
Aey found out where the fire was, and had the good
fortune to quench it, before its going too far. As soon
as they had put it out, they sent the boat ashore, and
found both the hide aforementioned, and the match
burning at both ends, whereby they became acquainted
with the whole matter.”

Having concluded this gallant but profitless affair,
the buccaneers drew off surlily from the coast, and sailed
for the island of Juan Fernandez to refit. This, as it
turned out, was their “ farthest south.” The inevitable
quarrels broke out afresh. Sharp attributes the whole
trouble to “that dissembling New Englander,” John
Cox. Cox, on the other hand, says that the men
having now plenty to eat and drink, “ nothing will serve
their turn but a new commander ” ; so “ a party of
refractory fellows ” went ashore and signed a paper to
put in Watling instead of Sharp. This Watling was an
old buccaneer, a rough, blustering bully, with little else
to recommend him. The first thing he did was to put
his colleague, Capt. Cook, in irons, on a disgraceful
charge. Another of his gestures was to insist upon the
strict observance of Sundays, which had been allowed
to lapse since Sawkins’s death. Then he sailed north,
direct for Arica, their original objective, determined to
crack that hard nut or die in the attempt. His departure

WILLIAM DAMPIER

was hastened by a rumour that Spanish warships were
approaching to intercept him.

The more educated members of the party, such as
Dampier and Ringrose, seem to have doubted this new
leadership from the start. At Iquique they took some
prisoners, and Watling, doubting the information given
by one of them, had him summarily shot.^ Three days’
sail brought them to Arica, and Watling at once made
preparations to attack. The date was January 30th, the
anniversary of the martyrdom of King Charles I, and
Cox attributed the ensuing failure to this unfortunate
choice of date. Dampier points out that Arica was “ a
strong town advantageously situated,” and hardly to be
taken by so small a body of men, except on a surprise.
Watling, however, as ignorant of sentimental as of
military considerations, advanced boldly to the attack.
Forty men were detailed to attack the fort. The main
body stormed the principal breastwork, but immediately
came luider a heavy fire from three other breastworks
which commanded it. “ We faced about,” says Cox,
“ and with a small party of men took them (the breast-
works) also.” He adds significantly that they “ left the
party that guarded them all fast asleep that they might
do no further mischief, for they were of a copper com-
plexion which never give quarter themselves.”

Abandoning the attack upon the fort, the English
now stormed through the streets of the town, losing
heavily, but taking so many prisoners that they hardly
knew what to do with them. All the time the fort
kept firing vigorously, and the enemy, rallying in the
houses, surrounded them on every side. From every

^ Here Hacke interposes with a theatrical story of how Sharp, the
deposed commander, “took water and washed his hands, saying : ‘ Gentle-
men, I am clear of the blood of this old man.’ ” There is nothing of the
sort in Ringrose’s original MS., and it probably never happened, though
the action would certainly be characteristic of Sharp.

SINGES THE KING OF SPAIN’S BEARD 83

window and doorway came a hail of missiles. It was a
hopeless situation. Watling was killed ; and Sharp then
took command, and conducted an orderly retreat from
the town, leaving behind only their surgeons, who had
somehow managed to get gloriously drunk, and could
not be found. And so, being “ such a small parcel of
our men and the enemy’s horse quite round us, we got
our disabled men into the middle, and in good order
marched down to our canoes and boats, but with heavy
hearts to think we should leave so much plate behind us.” ^

This successful retreat did something to restore Sharp’s
credit ; but it was a sadly disgruntled party which took
ship once more, and sailed to the north. They landed
at Hilo again, and stole some wine and figs and sugar
by way of revenge. Embarking again, Cox records
more grumbles from those people who were “ every day
for a new broom.” A shortage of water accentuated
this discontent, and by the time they reached the island
of Plate, on April 17th, 1681, matters had come to a
head. Dampier, who now suddenly comes into promi-
nence, explains that “ a great number of the meaner
sort ” were for reinstating Sharp in the command, but
“ the abler and more experienced men, being altogether
dissatisfied with Sharp’s former conduct, would by no
means consent to have him chosen.” Reconciliation
was impossible, and it was finally decided that they must
part company, by putting the matter to the vote, the
majority to retain the ships, and the minority to return
overland with their canoes to the western seas. On a
division, the ayes had it, and Sharp, for the last time,
took command. The loyal, deluded Cox of course
remained with him.

Dampier thereupon publicly declared his mind,
“ which I had hitherto kept to myself,” and joined the
land party. Wafer, the surgeon (not one of those who

1 Cor.

WILLIAM DAMPIER

had got drunk at Arica), was also in the minority — “ I

was of Mr. Dampier’s side in that matter,” he says so

were the two Cooks, Captain Edmund and plain John.
Ringrose, however, unable to get over his fear of the
“ wild Indians ” on shore, elected to stay with Sharp.
We part from him regretfully. In 1682 he paid a brief
visit to England, in company with his commander, and
must then have given his journal into the printer’s hands.
But long before its publication in 1684, he had sailed
as supercargo with Charles Swan, and he never saw
England again.

CHAPTER VI

HE ADVENTURES TO AFRICA
AND BACK

OR the third time in the course of this
brief narrative, a party of English buc-
caneers sets out to cross that dangerous
and pestiferous isthmus of Darien,
Unless you cross by the Panama Canal,
it is hardly less dangerous and pestiferous
to-day, so that lady travellers who
happen to have been there write exciting
books on the subject (just as Dampier and Wafer and
Ringrose did), emphasizing the fact that they were the
first civilized women to visit the place, and laying special
stress upon the numbers of alligators in the swamps, the
jaguars that prowl through the forests, and those mysteri-
ous tribes of white Indians, as to whose existence the
best scientific opinion seems to be still in some doubt.
The buccaneer chroniclers, by the way, frequently
mention white Indians — ^though whether they really saw
whole tribes of them, or were deceived by the appearance
of an unusual number of albinos, I cannot say. It is a
subject better left to the anthropologists.

On this occasion the travellers numbered forty-four
white men who bore arms ; a Spanish Indian, also
armed ; two Mosquito Indians, always greatly valued
on such occasions for their skill in catching fish or
turtles ; and “ five slaves taken in the South Seas, who
feU to our share.” We are to imagine the two Mos-

WILLIAM DAMPIER

quitos dressed in European clothes of the period of
Charles II, which must rather have cramped their style
as hunters. But Dampier tells us that they were so
pro-British that, when serving with Englishmen, they
made a point of putting on English clothes, though their
costume at ordinary times consisted only of a “ piece of
linen ” tied about their waists. I quote from Dampier’s
journal, which now becomes our chief authority, being
full and clear and reliable, as he always is when he sets
out to describe an adventure at length.

They started about two o’clock in the morning on
April 17th, 1681, being twelve leagues north-west from
the isle of Plate where they had left Captain Sharp.
They travelled in a launch or long-boat, one sound canoe,
and another canoe which had been cut in halves with the
idea of making it into water-barrels, and was now pre-
cariously joined together again. They had fitted these
vessels with sails, and loaded them with as much flour
as they could carry, and twenty or thirty pounds of
chocolate and sugar to sweeten it withal. “ These things
and a kettle ” it was intended that the slaves should
“ carry on their backs ” after they had landed ; “ and
because there were some who designed to go with us
that we knew were not well able to march, we gave out
that if any Man faltered in the Journey over Land he
must expect to be shot to Death ; for we knew that the
Spaniards would soon be after us, and one man falling
into their hands might be the ruin of us all, by giving
an account of our Strength and Condition.” ^

The isle of Plate lies about six hundred miles as the
crow flies from the isthmus of Darien, and the buccaneers
had an unpleasant journey thither, the winds being
mostly contrary, with heavy showers of rain. On the
1 8 th, they captured a Spanish barque, and took her
along with them. On the 25th they lost the second
^ A good example of Dampier’s compressed, yet fluent, style.

MOM,’'

ADVENTURES TO AFRICA AND BACK 87

canoe, which was a serious inconvenience, for it was
feared that the barque might be unsuitable for river
work ; and, on the 30th, they entered the Gulf of San
Miguel, and anchored near the mouth of the river, under
cover of a large island. There they got intelligence of a
Spanish ship, with a hundred and fifty men on board,
waiting for them at the river’s mouth, and of two other
heavily armed Spaniards which cruised in the Bay,
looking for them. Thereupon Dampier’s companions
lost their nerve, and though he urged them with all the
eloquence at his command to attempt another river called
the Congo in their canoes, they insisted upon landing
immediately, while they were still unobserved, and sijiking
all their boats to avoid detection. So they hurriedly
rowed ashore and landed their clothes and provisions,
while the Mosquito Indians caught a “ plentiful dish of
fish,” upon which — seated on the beach — they dined.

At this point, Dampier interjects a description of the
Mosquito Indians, of whom he held a high opinion.
If properly trained and led by Europeans, they make
stout soldiers. “ They are in general very civil and
kind to the English,” and we, on our part, “ always
humour them, letting them go any whither as they will,
and return to their own country in any vessel bound
that way, if they please.” They are keen to speak
English, and “ take the Governor of Jamaica to be one
of the greatest Princes in the World.”

On the 2nd May, the party began their march,
stopping in the evening at a small Indian village to
purchase some native food (“ fowls and peccary ”) for
their dinner. This they ate all together, “ having all
sorts of our provisions in common, because none should
live better than others, or pay dearer for anything than
it was worth.” One of these Indians accompanied them
next day as far as the house of a countryman who could
speak Spanish, and gave them some rough directions

WILLIAM DAMPIER

for their journey. That morning a nameless English-
man deserted from the company, “ being tired.”

Their average day’s march at this time was between
six and eight miles, but no doubt the way was hard.
For another forty-eight hours they struggled on, rations
becoming so short that there was no other topic of
conversation ; and they quite forgot their fear of the
Spaniards. On the sixth day of the march, an unfortu-
nate accident happened to the surgeon. Wafer. His
knee was seriously “ scorched ” by the accidental ignition
of some gunpowder, and marching became a torture to
him. His companions allowed him a slave to carry his
medicine chest and personal belongings, “ being all of
us the more concerned at the accident,” says Dampier
frankly, “ because liable ourselves every moment to mis-
fortune, and none to look after us but him.”

That evening they crossed a river, and then came to
another winding stream which they had to ford several
times, though it was deep. Dampier, foreseeing such
obstacles, had provided himself with a thick piece of
bamboo, sealed at each end, and swam the river, pushing
it in front of him. Best of all, he had the forethought
to place his precious journal and other papers inside it,
thus preserving them from the wet. Two of the com-
pany fell behind in the course of this day and never
rejoined. The rest spent a damp evening ; to add to
their discomfort, it rained “ extraordinarily hard,” with
much thunder and lightning. Finally their slaves, taking
advantage of the darkness, decamped in a body, including
the fellow with Wafer’s medicine chest. The unfortu-
nate surgeon could no longer dress his wound, and
found the going heavier than ever.

Next day they had to cross a swollen river, and, in
trying to get a rope to the opposite bank, a man named
Gayny was drowned, being weighed down by a bag
containing three hundred dollars, which was strapped to

ADVENTURES TO AFRICA AND BACK 89

his back. A little later they found his body ; but it is
significant of their condition that they did not even
trouble to take away the gold, “ being only in care how
to work our way through an unknown country.” In
the afternoon they reached a pleasanter district, and
marched more at their ease. Here they bade farewell
to the Spanish Indian, who turned back towards his
home ; and here they met many other Indians who
were kind and helpful. After a fortnight’s rest, they
rose betimes one morning and prepared to resume their
march.

Wafer, however, could go no farther. He and two
other men, named Hingson and Gopson,^ who now fell
out from the effects of exhaustion, had therefore to be
left behind, as the surgeon pathetically puts it, “ among
the wild Indians in the isthmus of Darien.” It is hardly
necessary to add that the rigorous order about shooting
all laggards was not enforced against them. On the
contrary, ” the company took a very kind leave of us ” —
no doubt expecting that it would be the last. The others
pressed on, accompanied by some friendly Indians. The
details of each day’s journey are carefully recorded in
Dampier’s diary, and need not be repeated here. They
shot monkeys and wild turkeys for their food, and were
greatly assisted by the Indians whom they met. One
old man who was carrying a load of plantains distributed
the fruit among the hungry buccaneers, and departed
empty-handed, asking no reward but their thanks. On
the twentieth day, they crossed the Chepo river, climbed
a high mountain, and from its summit, “ to our great
comfort,” saw the Northern sea.

Two more days brought them to the coast, where
they eagerly inquired of the Indians what ships had been
seen in the neighbourhood. They were told that there
was a French privateer now lying at La Soundes Key,

1 Sometimes spelt ‘‘ Gobson,” which hardly improves matters.

WILLIAM DAMPIER

an island of the Samballas group, about three leagues
distant, and on the 24th May they put off in canoes
and went on board this French vessel, where they were
affably received by the commander, one Captain Tristian.
Their Indian guides were still with them, and the
buccaneers very properly “ resolved to reward them to
their hearts’ content.” They therefore made a levy
among themselves of half-a-dollar a man, and with the
money purchased all the beads, knives, scissors, looking-
glasses and other “ toys ” that Captain Tristian possessed.
The Indians were delighted, and “ returned with joy to
their friends ” — a fortunate circumstance, as it turned
out, for Wafer and the others who had been left behind.

Thus ended this toilsome overland march of no
miles, which, as Dampier remarks, might have been fifty
miles shorter and have occupied less than half the time, if
they had landed from the South Seas at the proper place.

We now enter upon a new stage in Dampier ’s associa-
tion with the buccaneers. He is so reticent about him-
self, while so informative about everything else, that it
is impossible to say whether he was actually advanced
in rank, but it is plain that he was now a man of some
little weight among them. He seems conscious of his
own superiority. Behind his quiet manner there is a
complete self-confidence — ^more, perhaps, than was ever
quite justified by the results.

Captain Tristian, soon after the arrival of the English-
men, weighed anchor, and sailed to Springer’s Key,
another of the Samballas Islands, where he found a fleet
of eight privateers, consisting of four English vessels,
commanded by Coxon ^ (whom we have met before),

^ This reappearance of the quarrelsome Coxon seems to have been
unacconnubly missed even by such careful historians as Mr. Philip Gosse
and Mr. Masefield. Mr. Gosse makes him cross the isthmus with
Dampier’s party, whereas, as we have seen, he did the journey just a
year before.

ADVENTURES TO AFRICA AND BACK

Payne, Wright and Williams ; one Dutchman, under
a Captain Yanky, or Yankes ; and three Frenchmen.
All the other commanders came on board Tristian’s ship,
when they heard whom he had with him, and Dampier
says that the English in particular were “ overjoyed to
see us.” In fact, there was a merry reunion, Coxon
having most of his old company with him ; and we
may be sure that no one was so tactless as to mention
the disappearance of that medicine-chest twelve months
before !

It now appeared that the privateers were contemplating
another march overland against the town of Panama,
and they closely questioned the new arrivals as to their
chances of success, the condition of the rivers that
would have to be crossed, and so forth. What they
heard, says Dampier, “ disheartened them quite from
that design.” Several other plans were proposed, and
debate ran high.

It seems that these buccaneers had an excellent intelli-
gence department. Whenever they took any prisoners,
they examined them at length, and they made a point
of comparing the different statements thus obtained, so
that they now knew the strength of every Spanish town
upon the coast, the nature of the surrounding country,
and where the “ look-outs or sentinels ” were placed.

At last it was decided to rendezvous at the small
island of S. Andreas, near Providence Island, with a
view to an expedition against the mainland. On the
way they encountered a gale which scattered the fleet.
Dampier and his companions, much to their disgust,
had been transferred to another French ship, because it
happened to be the only one of the privateers not
already overmanned. They liked their new commander.
Captain Archembo, well enough, but the French seamen
were “ the saddest creatures that ever I was among.”
When the weather was rough, the “ biggest part of

WILLIAM DAMPIER

them never stirred out of their hammocks but to eat or
ease themselves.” When, therefore, Archembo reached
the rendezvous, and found only Wright there, with a
Spanish tartane^ which he had just captured, the English-
men of Dampier’s party went to Wright, and told him
plainly that, as independent privateers, they refused to
remain with Archembo, and would go ashore and build
canoes for themselves, unless he (Wright) would take
them over. The English captain hesitated, being afraid
to offend the French ; but the tartane was capable of
carrying thirty men, and he at last agreed to put them
into it as a prize crew, if they came to him as one ship’s
company.

So it was concluded, and Captain Wright, with his
prize, sailed to Bluefield’s River, where the tartane was
careened, and Dampier went hunting with some Mosquito
Indians, whose method of harpooning the manatee seems
to have fascinated him. Sailing from there, they fell
in with Captain Yanky, who told them that there had
been a fleet of Spanish armadilloes in pursuit of the
buccaneers, and that Tristian had sailed into the midst
of them, mistaking them for his friends, but had got
away, somewhat scarred. Payne and Williams had also
been chased, so that the privateers were now hopelessly
scattered, and Wright and Yanky decided to cruise
together on their own account. One evening in August
they arrived off La Soundes Key, and fired their guns
as a signal to the Indians on the mainland, hoping to
get some news of the men whom Dampier’s party had
left behind four months before. Soon a number of
canoes approached, and as the Indians climbed on board,
they were delighted to recognize among them Hingson,
Gopson, and two other men who had dropped out at
an earlier stage of the march.

But where was Wafer.? As a matter of fact, the
worthy surgeon had prepared a little surprise for his

ADVENTURES TO AFRICA AND BACK 93

friends. He here takes up the story himself. While
the other Englishmen were being welcomed, the Indians
squatted on the deck after their fashion. Wafer, naked
like Aem, with his body painted and “ my nose-piece
hanging over my mouth,” sat quietly among them,
“ cringing upon my hams,” and no doubt hugely enjoy-
ing the joke. Suddenly one of the English crew recog-
nized him, exclaiming, “ Here ’s our doctor ! ” It was
a great moment in the career of Lionel Wafer.

Wafer had a good story to tell. He had won much
credit with the Indians, owing to his skill in blood-
letting ; for this was a cure which the native doctors
also practised, but very clumsily, their method being to
shoot light and specially constructed arrows into the
unfortunate patient’s skin, until it bristled like a porcu-
pine’s. Wafer soon became physician-in-chief among
them, and found it necessary to conform to many of
their customs, especially in the matter of dress. Finally,
he demanded that he and his companions should be
taken down to the coast, and put on board the first
European ship that came in sight, and so strong was
his influence that the Indians at last consented. The
other Englishmen had not accommodated themselves so
well to the Indian mode of life. Poor Richard Gopson
came on board ill and exhausted, and died a few days
later. Dampier now struck up a close friendship with
Wafer, for whom he had evidently acquired a new respect.
Henceforward in his writings, he frequently refers for
information about the natives to “ Mr. Wafer’s book ” ;
and among his papers are some useful contributions
marked as by “ the chyrugeon,” or from “ M. de la
Wafer’s observations which he made when he was left
behinde in the midst of the country amongst the salvage
Indians.”

Wright and Yanky, pursuing their voyage eastward
along the northern coast of South America, passed by

WILLIAM DAMPIER

the famous city of Cartagena, “ a place of incredible
wealth,”^ and sailing so insolently close to the shore
that they had “ a fair view ” of its great monastery and
its churches. Dampier pauses to have a hit at the
alleged miraculous powers of Our Lady of Cartagena ;
“ Any Misfortune that befalls the Privateers is attri-
buted to this Lady’s doing ; and the Spaniards report
that she was aboard that Night the ‘ Oxford ’ Man-of-
War was blown up at the Isle of Vacca, near Hispaniola,
and that she came home all wet ; as belike she often
returns with her cloathes dirty and torn with passing
through Woods and bad ways, when she has been out
on any Expedition ; deserving doubtless a new Suit for
such eminent Pieces of Service.” Still steering east,
they passed the towns of Santa Marta and La Hacha —
the latter once a considerable place, but so often sacked
by the buccaneers that the inhabitants had temporarily
deserted it. It now lay empty and bleaching in the
sun — a reproach to everyone concerned. Turning back,
they sighted a Spanish ship and went in pursuit. Wright
was the first to come up with the chase, and he engaged
her until Yanky joined him, when they boarded her
together and made her their prize.

At once a quarrel broke out, both captains claiming
the ship. Most of the men, rather surprisingly, took
Yanky’s side, though Wright had obviously the better
claim ; but Dampier explains that Yanky held a com-
mission from the French authorities which gave a
semblance of legality to his acts (he might call himself
a French privateer) whereas Wright had none, and the
men were afraid that if he took the prize into port to
dispose of it, they might all be arrested as pirates.
Matters were arranged on the basis of a kind of “general

^ When the French took it, sixteen years later, they obtained over a
million of money from the town.

ADVENTURES TO AFRICA AND BACK

post.” Yanky went on board the prize, and Wright
took over Yanky’s ship, burning his former vessel, which
was small and unserviceable. He also sold the tartane
to a passing Jamaica trader, and added Dampier and the
others to his own crew.

They visited the Dutch island of Curafoa, with the
object of selling the cargo of sugar which they had
found on the prize ; and here Dampier heard of the
disaster which had lately befallen an old ally of his, the
French Admiral D’Estr^es. He had been sent against
the Dutch West Indies in 1678, with a French squadron
and one or two French “ privateers ” ; but ran ashore
on the rocks of the island of Aves, and all his ships were
lost. Most of the men, however, got to shore, and the
privateers, according to the stories told to Dampier, had
made themselves very comfortable after their fashion,
there being plenty of wine and brandy washed up from
the wrecks, or still to be found in their shattered hulls.
We get one memorable snapshot : “ There were about
forty Frenchmen on board in one of the Ships where
there was good store of Liquor, till the after part of her
broke away and floated over the Riff, and was carry’d
away to Sea, with all the Men drinking and singing,
who being in drink did not mind the Danger, but were
never heard of after-wards.” Wright got two guns out
of the wrecks that were still there, and careened his
ship on the island of Aves, where he remained till
February, 1682. The Dutch authorities having refused
to buy his sugar, he sold it all to a passing French war-
ship. On board the Frenchman there were two ofiicers
who seem to have taken a fancy to Dampier, for they
“ offered me great encouragement in France, if I would
go with them.” He must have been a noticeable figure
in that stupid, riff-raif crew. It probably puzzled the
Frenchmen (as it puzzles us to-day) that he should be
so obviously out of his element, and in a junior position

WILLIAM DAMPIER

too, and yet so apparently contented. It astonished
them, no doubt, when he quietly refused their offer,
giving as his reason that “ I ever designed to continue
with those of my own nation.” But that was Dampier
all over. He hated personal explanations. He would
have died sooner than admit that he was still pursuing
a schoolboy dream of adventure.

In April the buccaneers were at La Tortuga and
Blanquila, Dampier taking voluminous notes all the time.
He observes the many and rapid changes that took place
“ in these parts,” local industries appearing and dis-
appearing in the course of a month or two ; and whole
cities being swallowed up by the jungle, while their
names still figured large on the map. In regard to one
of them, called Nombre de Dios, he says, “ I have lain
ashore in the place where that city stood ; but it is all
overgrown with wood, so as to leave no sign that any
Town hath been there.” At Tortuga, where the men
were “ drunk and quarrelling ” all the time, Wright
and Yanky finally parted company — or, as Wafer puts
it, “ Captain Yanky left Mr. Dampier.” Wafer went
with Yanky, Dampier with Wright.

The remainder of Wright’s cruise is of no great
interest, apart from Dampier’s lively descriptions of the
different places they visited. He had, of course, a genius
for writing travel notes. In one of the many bays of
the northern coast, which he does not name, but which
must have been somewhere near Cumana, they captured
three small Spanish barques, and having apportioned
their spoils, which were now considerable, they divided
the company among the ships, each of which shaped
its course independently. Dampier and twenty others
took one of the prizes, and decided to sail direct for
Virginia, where they hoped to dispose of their goods.
They had an uneventful voyage, and in July, 1682,
arrived safely in the English colony of Virginia, which.

ADVENTURES TO AFRICA AND BACK 97

as Dampier remarks, “is so well known to our nation
that I shall say nothing of it.”

Of Dampier’s life in Virginia we know next to nothing.
He lived there for just over a year, and it is not un-
reasonable to suppose that he would send home for his
wife, since he was now comparatively prosperous. But
he says nothing of this. Women played but a very
small part in his life. With his usual tantalizing
modesty, he declines to “ detain the reader with the
story of my own affairs.” All we know is that he had
“ trouble,” and it is not difficult to guess at the nature
of that. We are now in the transition stage between
the brave days of the buccaneers and of ordinary common-
or-garden piracy. The authorities are beginning to
look askance at “ privateer ” captains who sail the seas
without commissions ; and it will be remembered that
Wright had none. (It was for this reason that the
Dutch governor of Curagoa had refused to buy his sugar
from him.) Awkward questions may have been asked
about the origin of the goods which Dampier had for
sale, and he may have found it necessary to get rid of
them unostentatiously, and at a heavy loss, as seems to
have happened to Wafer and others at a later date. But
all this is supposition. At any rate, when he left
Virginia on his next voyage, he was apparently a poor
man once again. We may, however, hazard the guess
that if it had not been for this money trouble, whatever
it was, he would at this point have severed his connection
with the buccaneers, instead of sailing with them on
another voyage.

Dampier’s next voyage took him round the world.
It started in curious circumstances. In April, 1683,
there arrived in Virginia, where Dampier was living
with only his “ troubles ” for company, a party of English-
men who had been with Captain Yanky, and had since
had a remarkable series of adventures. They were led

WILLIAM DAMPIER

by John Cook,^ who, we now learn from Dampier, was
a Creole and also a “ sensible man.” They told Dampier
that Cook had been given the command of one of
Yanky’s prizes, and had sailed in her ; but that while
he and Yanky, and some French privateers, including
Tristian, were at the island of Vacca, the foreigners had
plundered the English of their ship, goods and arms,
and turned them ashore. Tristian, however, in a moment
of weakness, had consented to keep eight or ten of them,
including Cook and Davis, on his ship ; and these few
Englishmen, seizing their opportunity, had turned the
tables on the French, recovered their countrymen from
the shore, and sailed away in Tristian’s own ship !
They made several captures — one of them a French
ship — ^and, transferring themselves to the best of their
prizes, they came to Virginia.

It was now proposed, v/ith this new ship, to attempt
an ambitious voyage in the South Seas. The projected
expedition was, no doubt, well advertised in Virginia.
Dampier and many other old buccaneers who were living
thereabouts, including Wafer and Ringrose, willingly
consented to join, so that he says the crew soon amounted
to seventy men. Most of these had been with Sharp
in 1680, and they must have been about as “ tough ” a
lot as the heart of any buccaneer captain could desire.
Dampier was no longer a foremast hand : as will appear
later, he occupied some position of authority, probably
that of assistant-quartermaster, though he tells us no de-
tails himself. As pilot, they took a certain Mr. Cowley,
whose name should be noted, because he kept a journal
of the voyage which is our next authority after Dampier’s.
Although an M.A. of Cambridge University, he is
neither a very lively nor a very reliable historian. He
says that the crew numbered only fifty-two, and that

1 See page 84. Not to be confused with Edmund Cook, who was
put in irons by Watling.

ADVENTURES TO AFRICA AND BACK

the ship had but eight guns ; whereas Dampier says
seventy and eighteen. We do not hesitate to believe
Dampier. But Cowley tells us lots of little personal
details which Dampier leaves out. Feeling, no doubt,
that the presence of an M.A. on a buccaneer’s ship
required some explanation, he observes that Cook only
induced him to join by “ pretending to me that I should
navigate the ship to a port in the island of Hispaniola,”
and no farther, and that he was afterwards forced to
continue. It is impossible to believe a word of this.

The name of Cook’s ship was the “ Revenge ” —
though against whom or what revenge was required,
unless Yanky and Tristian, is not very clear. They
sailed from Virginia in August, 1683, and without
staying for any adventures by the way, they arrived in
September at the easternmost of the Cape Verde Islands,
where they found the inhabitants to consist of only five
men — four Portuguese officers and their servant. “ They
were all black,” says Cowley, “ but scorn to be accounted
any other than Portuguese, for if any man calls them
negroes they will be very angry, saying that they are
white Portuguese.” Their leader, the Governor, had,
according to Dampier, “ nothing but a few Rags on his
back, and an old Hat not worth three Farthings, which
yet I believe he wore but seldom, for fear he might
want before he got another, for he told us there had not
been a ship in three years before.” One of the needy
Portuguese gave a lump of ambergris to a buccaneer in
exchange for clothes ; but Dampier thinks his shipmate
was cheated. “ It was of a dark colour and very soft,
but of no smell, and possibly ’twas some of their goats’
dung.”

Here they watered, and here Dampier made his first
acquaintance with that graceful bird, the flamingo. He
found it very shy. “ Yet I have lain obscured in the
Evening near a place where they resort, and with two

lOO

WILLIAM DAMPIER

more in my company have killed 14 of them at once ;
the first shot being made while they were standing on
the ground, the other two as they rose.” I am aware
that this confession will damage Dampier’s reputation
with modern readers, but, like him, I am determined to
put historical accuracy first. The young flamingoes
were at a serious disadvantage against this kind of
sportsman, being unable to fly “ till they are almost
full grown ” ; b^ut they run “ prodigiously fast.” In
Dampier’s opinion, “ a dish of flamingoes’ tongues ” is
“ fit for a Prince’s Table ” ; and I should imagine that
few modern gourmets, however wealthy, are in a position
to combat that opinion.

They passed on to another island, where the Governor
sent them a present of local wine (which Dampier found
“ like Madeira,” but Cowley thought just “ bad ”) ;
but he would not let them ashore, being afraid that they
might repeat the experiment of the last English visitor,
who had seized the principal men on the island, and
held them to ransom. About this time, the buccaneers
held a consultation to consider whether they should sail
direct for the South Seas in their present ship alone, or
go in search of a second one. They decided to try their
luck at the island of St. lago ; and there, sure enough,
was a fine Dutch ship in the roads, which they warily
approached. But the Dutchman “ strook out her Ports
alow, and presently running out her lower tier of Guns
was ready to receive us ; who by this time being got
something too near him, and seeing so many guns and
men, we thought it more advisable to bear away before
the Wind ; the Hollander at the same time sending
I o shot after us.” The above is from Cowley ; Dampier
says nothing of it. After all England and Holland were
at peace ! But it was a rude rebuff.

The buccaneers now took the bold decision to con-
tinue their course eastward to Africa to the Guinea

ADVENTURES TO AFRICA AND BACK loi

coast, still in search of a better ship. In pursuance of
this design, they presently reached the mouth of the
river Sherbro, south of Sierra Leone, where there was
an English factory ; and here, in the mouth of the
river, they found a new Danish ship of forty guns, which
they immediately boarded in the most barefaced manner,
and “ carried her away.” Also, says Cowley, “ we found
she was very fit for so long a voyage, for she was well
stored with good brandy, water, provisions and other
necessaries.” Cowley calls her a “ lovely ship.” They
named her the “ Bachelor’s Delight.”

At Sherbro, they watered their own ship, too, filling
each cask carefully, “ for we intended not to water again
till we came into the South Sea, at the island of Juan
Fernandez.” It was important that they should not
have to water on the way, and the reason given for this
by Dampier is interesting. The typical buccaneer crew,
he points out, would always waste a lot of time over
such operations ; and “ although these men were more
under command than I had ever seen any Privateers,
yet I could not expect to find them at a Minute’s call,
in coming to an Anchor, or weighing Anchor.” Notice
that it is Dampier himself who has to find them at “ a
minute’s call,” suggesting, as I have said, that he held
some such post as that of assistant-quartermaster. The
quartermaster was one, Edward Davis, of whom we
shall hear more.

Cowley and the ship’s doctor made the preliminary
arrangements for the watering. They went ashore with
an interpreter, and interviewed the nearest native chief,
who was so pleased with a present of a cask of brandy
and some bars of iron and a little cloth, that he not
only “ sent his people down to fill our water for us,”
but presented Cowley and the doctor with a black woman
each to keep them company for the night. Cowley,
however, retired on board, “ by reason I did not like

102

WILLIAM DAMPIER

her hide.” The doctor stayed on shore, and very
appropriately caught fever and died. Dampier says that
this was a serious inconvenience, since Wafer was now
the only surgeon they had. Although they had water,
they seem to have run short of meat, for Dampier gives
an unattractive recipe for boiled shark — “ boiling and
squeezing them dry, and then stewing them with
Vinegar, Pepper, etc.”

So they sailed south-west, back across the Atlantic,
for many days, and on the 14th February, St. Valentine’s
Day, were rounding Cape Horn. Cowley says they
“ were choosing Valentines, and discoursing on the
Intrigues of Woman, when there arose a prodigious
storm,” which drove them out of their course, “ so that
we concluding the discoursing of Women at sea was
very unlucky.” The only thing that vexed Dampier
was that they saw so little of the sun that he could not
take his usual observations. The value of some of
Cowley’s observations may be judged from his assertion
that the sea was “ red as blood,” owing to the number
of “ shrimps ” swimming about in it. He also reports
that they were surrounded by “ an innumerable company
of seals,” who would lift their heads out of the water
and “ blaff like a dog.” On the 19th they were over-
hauled by a ship coming up from the south, which at
first they took for a Spaniard ; but it turned out to be
Captain Eaton (in the “ Nicholas ” of London), who
came on board and told them of the fine times he had
been having on the coast of Brazil with one Captain
Swan, whom now he had unfortunately lost. As they
were all bound for Juan Fernandez, Captain Eaton
kept them company. They sighted the island on the
22nd March, 1684, and Dampier tells us that the first
thing they did was to send a boat ashore to look for an
unfortunate Mosquito Indian, who had been left there
by Watling in 1681.

ADVENTURES TO AFRICA AND BACK 103

Now this Indian has almost as good a claim as
Alexander Selkirk himself to be regarded as the
“ original ” of Robinson Crusoe. The truth probably
is that they should share the honours. When Wading
drew off the buccaneer fleet from Juan Fernandez,^ on
an alarm of the approach of Spanish warships, the Indian
was hunting goats in the woods. He had with him
only a gun, powder and shot, and a knife. When his
ammunition was spent, he contrived to saw the barrel
of his gun into small ' pieces, which he used for harpoons,
lances and fish-hooks. Thus he managed to feed him-
self. He lived in a little hut lined with goatskins, and
wore skins for his clothing. As the boat from Cook’s
ship approached, they saw the castaway waiting for them
on the beach. Another Mosquito Indian, named —
rather significantly, I think — Robin, was the first to leap
ashore and greet his long-lost compatriot, who had pre-
pared a feast of goat’s meat for his rescuers.

Dampier was much interested, and took copious notes,
from which it would appear that this was not a bad sort
of desert island to be marooned on. It was (and is)
very mountainous — so much so that when the Spaniards,
annoyed that the goats they had left on the island should
be supplying food for visiting Englishmen, landed fierce
dogs to destroy the herds, the goats merely climbed to
the mountain tops, and “ the dogs it was that died.”
The valleys are well wooded, being full of cabbage palms,®
and the great herds of goats wandered free, while
“ seals swarm as thick about it as if they had no other
place in the world to live in.” Fish were equally
plentiful.

Cook and Eaton remained at Juan Fernandez for
sixteen days, during which time many of the men fell

^ See pages 8 1-2.

2 Dampier says the fruit of the cabbage tree is “ as white as milk and
as sweet as a nut,”

104

WILLIAM DAMPIER

ill (probably from the sudden change of diet). Among
them was that rather uninteresting person, Cook him-
self. He never recovered. They sailed north to the
coast of Peru, and there took several prizes. Captain
Eaton proved a useful partner, for his ship turned out
to be a better sailer than Cook’s. At Galapagos Islands
they made a little tent on shore for their sick captain ;
but the rest does not seem to have done him much good,
for when they reached Cape Blanco on the mainland of
Mexico he made an end and died. They sent a boat
ashore with twelve armed men to dig a grave and bury
him ; but the ceremony was interrupted by the appear-
ance of three Spanish Indians, whose inquisitive attitude
so alarmed the men that they broke off to pursue and
capture two of them, whom they afterwards brought on
board. Eaton (in whose ship Dampier was now serving)
ascertained from these prisoners that the whole country-
side was alert, having been warned of his arrival, but
that there was a herd of cattle near at hand, which he
might safely steal. Dampier and twenty-three others
were sent ashore for the purpose in two boats. They
found the cattle scattered, and one boat immediately
returned ; but the other was burnt by the Spaniards
and its crew rescued with difficulty next morning.

Edward Davis, a man of some character, and of few
words, was now made captain in place of Cook, and the
buccaneers sailed along the Mexican coast looking for
a chance to surprise a town, but always finding the
Spaniards too well prepared for them. At last Davis
ventured into the Gulf of Amapala with two canoes,
and succeeded in capturing a Spanish-speaking Indian,
who occupied some kind of official post, for Dampier
always refers to him as “ the Secretary.” This man had
“no great kindness for the Spaniards.” He willingly
agreed to guide the buccaneers to the nearest Indian
village, where the inhabitants received them rather doubt-

ADVENTURES TO AFRICA AND BACK 105

fully, but agreed to go with them to the church, where
they commonly held their public meetings, and discuss
matters there. It was Davis’s pleasant intention to get
all the people into the church, and then lock the door,
and demand tribute from them ; and the astonishing
thing is that, according to Dampier, the “ secretary ”
was in the plot with him. But just as they approached
the church doors, one of Davis’s men gave an Indian a
push, to hurry him along ; whereupon all the natives
immediately took alarm and fled like wild animals.
Davis’s men fired a futile volley, which killed the
wretched secretary, but did no other good. “ Thus,”
says Dampier, bitterly, “ our hopes perished by the
indiscretion of one foolish fellow.”

After this, they captured several Indian villages, but
waxed no fatter thereon. They met Captain Eaton,
but Davis’s men would not allow him a fair share
of the spoil, and he parted company in disgust.
Dampier, who was now with Davis, remarks with his
usual fairness that it was all the fault of his own party.
But another ally turned up in the person of Captain
Swan, in the “ Cygnet ” of London, Eaton’s former
consort. This unfortunate (and corpulent) commander
had been forced into buccaneering by his crew. There
is in existence a letter ^ from him, in which he implores
his owners in moving terms to intercede for him with
the King, “ for as soon as I can, I shall deliver myself
to the King’s justice.” In the meantime, however, he
was as forward in the wicked game as any of them. If
at times he repented of his sins, there were other times
when he was simply a fat humbug. With him was a
certain Captain Peter Harris (nephew of the Harris who
was killed before Panama) in command of a small
barque.

The buccaneers, now a considerable force, sailed south
^ Quoted by Mr. Masefield.

io6 WILLIAM DAMPIER

wards, doubling Cape Blanco, and proceeded, to attack
the town of Payta. They captured the place without
the loss of a single man ; but the inhabitants fled with
their goods, and after hanging about for some time in
the vain hope of a ransom. Swan set fire to the town in
a rage, and departed. Their next, and their most
important, objective on this cruise was the town of
Guayaquil, in the modern republic of Ecuador. They
left their ships off Cape Blanco, and made this long
journey south in their canoes. But luck was against
them once more. On entering the Gulf of Guayaquil,
they made first for Santa Clara, where the lighthouse
now stands ; then, by a clever surprise attack, they
captured the town of Puna and all its inhabitants, so
that no one got away to warn the Spaniards in Guayaquil.
The island of Puna lies near the mouth of the Gulf,
and the buccaneers, after capturing it, waited here quietly
till the flood tide, when they launched their canoes and
began to row as hard as they could up the Gulf towards
the unsuspecting town. But they had made some mis-
calculation ; perhaps the canoes were too heavily manned
for speed ; at any rate when dawn broke they found
themselves still two leagues from Guayaquil, and only
one hour of the flood tide left. So they put into a lonely
creek, and hid there, waiting for the evening and the
next flood tide.

Davis presently became impatient, and attempted an
overland march with a party of volunteers ; but they
returned in an hour or two, soaked to the skin, having
tumbled into innumerable creeks which barred the way
to the town. At dusk the canoes crept out again, and
were presently in full view of Guayaquil. It must have
been a pretty sight, for “ we saw lighted torches or
candles all the town over ” — ^which much disturbed the
buccaneers. Some thought the Spaniards had been
warned, some that the lights were there only because it

ADVENTURES TO AFRICA AND BACK 107

was the eve of a saint’s day. At the urgent request of
Davis, who upbraided Swan and his men with cowardice,
they landed at a point two miles from the town, but
soon found themselves hopelessly lost in the under-
growth. They had an Indian guide, but he escaped.
It afterwards appeared that the rope which held him had
been deliberately cut by one of the buccaneers, who did
not want to go any farther. So they turned back sadly,
and rowed away in their canoes, leaving Guayaquil
behind them. “ They did not fire one gun at us, nor
we at them.”

At Puna next morning they found that one of their
ships, which had followed them, had captured three
Spanish vessels loaded with negro slaves to the number
of a thousand. Swan and Davis picked twenty or thirty
of the best, and turned the rest ashore. Dampier,
leaning over the side of his canoe and watching this
transaction, indulged in what he calls “ golden dreams.”
With a thousand such negroes, he reflected, the buc-
caneers might have reopened the gold mines of Santa
Maria, on the isthmus of Darien, now deserted by the
Spaniards, and with the friendly Indians to help them
and a line of retreat behind them to the northern seas,
they might have defied all the strength that Spain could
bring against them. But these were might-have-beens.

In the meantime the voyage went on with varying
fortunes. They “jogged on,” as Dampier puts it, from
island to island, taking prizes. Sometimes there would
be valuable cargoes, sometimes only “ a few boxes of
marmalade, and three or four jars of brandy.” Dampier
acquired a liking for clams, which he found “ very large
and sweet,” and he and Mr. Teat, Swan’s chief mate,
compared notes on the subject. They had a look at
Panama, but found it better fortified than when Sharp
and Sawkins were there. At Tobago the Spaniards
made an unsuccessful attempt against them with a fire-

io 8

WILLIAM DAMPIER

ship, a design which they concluded must have emanated
from the fertile brain of an English renegade named
Bond,^ then in Panama, “ for it is strange to say how
grossly ignorant the Spaniards in the West Indies, but
especially in the South Seas, are of sea affairs.”

Next day they descried, to their astonishment, a fleet
of canoes approaching them. They were at first in some
“ consternation,” but presently discovered the canoes to
be full of French and English privateers. There were
cordial greetings. Davis and Swan gave Gronet, the
French captain, one of their prizes to command ; but
he turned out a weak and vacillating ally, somewhat
after the manner of the Count d’Estr^es. With these
new companions they sailed to the Gulf of San Miguel,
where they found Captain Townley, an English com-
mander. With him they consorted, and began to make
plans for the capture of the rich Lima fleet, then about
due to leave Lima on its way to Panama. The buc-
caneers must have been feeling fit for any exploit, for
Captain Townley had distributed all his wine and brandy
among the fleet, in order to fill the barrels with water,
preparatory to the cruise. Moreover they were now a
powerful fleet of ten sail (Harris had been given com-
mand of a prize), mounting well over fifty guns, and
carrying nine hundred and sixty men, mostly English.

They set sail on the 4th May, 1685, and on the 28th
came in touch with the Lima fleet of fourteen sail and
much heavier metal than theirs. A running fight began,
and lasted all that day and most of the next. At the
beginning the English were the pursuers, but in the
end they were “ glad to get away.” Gronet never fired
a shot,2 explaining that his men would not let him. It

^ The same who had kidnapped the leading inhabitants from one of
the Cape Verde Islands (see page 100). He hailed from Bristol, and
was a common pirate who did not deserve the name of buccaneer.

^ There exists a French account of this engagement, in which Gronet

ADVENTURES TO AERICA AND BACK 109

was a most unsatisfactory termination to “all we had
been projecting for five or six months.” However, they
collected their scattered fleet, and approaching the main-
land again, got some satisfaction in taking and sacking
the town of Puebla Nueva, where Sawkins had been
killed five years before.

The cruise of this united fleet was brought to a
happier end than at one time seemed likely, by a
successful attack upon the important town of Leon, in
Nicaragua. The buccaneers landed with 520 men, 470
of whom marched towards the town, while Dampier,
with the remainder, was left behind to guard the canoes —
not a very exciting command, perhaps, but one of
some responsibility. The town lies fifty miles inlands
Townley led the way with eighty of the “ briskest ” men,
and was followed by Swan and Davis, while Captain
Knight, a new addition to their ranks, brought up the
rear. As they entered the town, about three o’clock in
the afternoon, very footsore and weary, Townley’s
advance guard was charged by twice its number of
Spanish horse ; but “ two or three of their leaders being
knocked down, the rest fled.” The Spanish foot, to the
number of five hundred, were drawn up in the principal
square, but did not even wait to meet the buccaneers,
whose only casualties were among the stragglers in the rear.
One of these, an old man of eighty-four^ who had fought
under Oliver Cromwell, found the twenty-mile march
under the blazing sun too much for him. He fell out,

is described as doing his best to join in. The author, De Lussan {Journal
of Le SieurRavenau de Lussan, Paris, 1689 ; English translation, 1699),
brings a number of general charges against the English buccaneers,
accusing them of sacrilege and firing their pistols at images in the churches.
He himself was so pious a sea-robber that, as Mr. Gosse sa7S, he “ never
allowed a Spanish town to be plundered until his crew had attended
Mass in the cathedral.” {M;j Pirate Library, by Philip Gosse : London,
1926.)

■ 1 I think he must hold the age record among the buccaneers.

WILLIAM DAMPIER

and was quickly surrounded by the enemy, in the midst
of whom he died, fighting gamely to the last, we are
told, and refusing quarter. There followed the usual
interminable negotiations about a ransom for the town,
which ended— again as usual — ^in the buccaneers setting
fire to the place. They marched thence to Realejo,
which they sacked and burnt, without encountering any
serious opposition. Then they put to sea again, no
doubt thoroughly satisfied with themselves.

It was at this point that Swan and Davis (who had
never got on very well since the affair at Guayaquil)
finally decided to separate, and a new series of adven-
tures began for William Dampier.

CHAPTER VII

AND CIRCUMNAVIGATES
THE GLOBE

HEN Davis and Swan parted
company on the twenty-fifth day
of August, 1685, William Dampier
came to the prompt decision to
desert Davis, with whom he had
• served so long ; and he therefore
left him on that day, and went on
board Swan’s ship, the “ Cygnet.”

It is to be noted that Dampier had a particular liking
for Davis.^ He always refers to him with I'espect ; and,
so far as I know, this is the only one of all his buccaneer
comrades with whom he maintained friendly relations

^ Davis, as a matter of fact, was an exceptionally able man. Mr. Philip
Gosse has pointed out (in The Pirates^ Who Who) that he “ commanded
his gang of ruffians in the Pacific for nearly four years,’’ a record unequalled
by any other buccaneer or pirate captain, with the exception of the re-
doubtable Bartholomew Roberts. In the Calendar of State Papers there
exists a letter from Governor Bellomont, of the Bermudas (the same who
hounded poor Captain Kidd to his death), stating that he had in custody
a “ pirate who goes by the name of Capt. Davies, that came passenger
with Kidd from Madagascar.” Bellomont adds, “ I suppose him to be
that Capt. Davies that Dampiere {sic) and Wafer speak of, in their
printed relations or voyages, for an extraordinarily stout man ; but let
him be as stout as he will, here he is a prisoner, and shall be forthcoming
upon the order I receive from England concerning Kidd.” This letter
is dated October 24th, 1699. We know from Dampier’s references that
Edward Davis was living quietly in England only two or three years
before this date ; and we also know that he was going strong again in
1702. So I conclude that the Governor was mistaken.

Ill

112

WILLIAM DAMPIER

in England after they had both taken to a more respect-
able way of life. But Davis was determined to return
to the coast of Peru, whereas Swan had much more
ambitious ideas in his head. Dampier explains that his
decision to leave Davis “ was not from any dislike to
my old Captain [who seems to have borne him no grudge
for it] but to get some knowledge of the northern parts
of this Continent of Mexico. And I knew that Capt.
Swan determined to coast it as far North as he thought
convenient, and then pass over for the East Indies ;
which was a way very agreeable to my inclinations.”

Let us try to see Dampier as he was at this time. He
was in his thirty-fifth year, a hard, well-seasoned sailor,
and a man of parts withal, among a crowd of thoughtless
swashbuckling adventurers. Instead of wasting his time
on wine and women, he had known how to use his eyes
and his natural intelligence ; and it is probable that not
one of them — certainly not the official pilot, William
Ambrosia Cowley — ^was so well equipped to navigate a
ship through those waters.

Cowley, who frequently mentions how he “ ordered
the quartermaster ” to do this and that, probably never
realized that the self-contained, quiet young man who
was the quartermaster’s assistant was already a better
hydrographer and “ artist ” (the usual word in those
days for navigator) than he was himself. Yet his single
allusion to “ Mr. Dampier ” in his journal is noticeably
respectful. A comparison between the characters of
these two men is instructive. Cowley’s claim that he
was, as he puts it, “ a jackdaw among the rooks ” from
the point of view of honesty, is as unjustifiable as his
boast that they could not have navigated the “ Revenge ”
without him. When Cook’s ship was between Sierra
Leone and Sherbro he was put under arrest — ^he says
because the buccaneers were afraid that he intended to
leave them when they got ashore. He adds that they

CIRCUMNAVIGATES THE GLOBE

”3

wotild undoubtedly have hanged him “ had they had
another man to carry their ship to the south sea.” This
is palpably absurd. Dampier, or even Davis himself,
could have done it. Dampier could “ shoot ” the sun
as well as Q>wley could, and was already doing it
regularly and accurately, as we see from his journal.
Moreover, he had far more intelligence in making the
appropriate deductions from his observations, and (as we
shall discover) far more honesty when it came to putting
them before the public.

Cowley was quite irresponsible. When the “ Bache-
lor’s Delight ” reaches the South Seas, in its voyage from
Africa, he begins naming islands right and left. Most
of these islands were in the Galapagos group, and, of
course, were already named. But Cowley calls them
after Kng Charles II, the Duke of York, the Duke of
Albemarle, Lord Culpeper, Sir John Marborough, and
others. “ And between York and Albemarle’s island
lieth a small one, which my Fancy led me to call Cowley’s
Inchanted Island.” A conceited ass ! As for “ Pepys
Island,” named after Samuel, the diarist, which he “ dis-
covered ” a little earlier as they passed the Falklands, it
simply did not exist.

Smyth has gone very fully into this matter, and I am
indebted to him for the following explanation of Cowley’s
blunder. In his manuscript journal, now in the British
Museum, Cowley merely states that they espied an island
in latitude 47° 40'. But on his return to England,
desiring to publish his manuscript, he selected as editor
a gentleman we have met before — ^William Hacke.
Hacke, deceived by the latitude, thought— or pretended
to think — that this must be a new discovery, and there-
fore a good opportunity of paying a compliment to
Pepys, who was Secretary of the Admiralty. Deliber-
ately cutting out the forty minutes of latitude in order
to carry his “ discovery ” farther away from any known

WILLIAM DAMPIER

114

land, he — or he and Cowley — dished up the entry from
Cowley’s journal for the public thus : “ We held our
course S.W. till we came into the lat. of 47 deg. when
we saw land ; the same being an island not before
known, lying to the westward of us. It was not in-
habited [how on earth could he know that ?] and I gave
it the name of Pepys Island.” ^ So much for Cowley .2
While he blundered along in this fashion, scattering new
names like largess over the map, his assistant quarter-
master was quietly noting everything — giving the ship’s
position with unfailing accuracy almost every day, observ-
ing the winds and the tides, identifying every island and
investigating it himself if possible, or questioning the
inhabitants. Already he must have been incomparably
the most knowledgeable hydrographer in the South Seas.

^ This imaginary Pepys Island persisted in the maps for years. The
great Captain Cook was one of the first to declare publicly that it did
not exist.

2 To finish with William Ambrosia : — He sailed with neither Swan
nor Davis. Already, before their separation, he had transferred himself
to Eaton’s ship as navigator. We do not hear that his former messmates
on the “ Bachelor’s Delight ” found any diflSculty in navigating that ship
without him. Eaton had sailed for the East in August, and we have
Cowley’s record of that voyage. Whether or not Cowley was a buccaneer
malgri lui^ he soon became a pirate at heart, like his new commander.
For instance, at the island of Guana, at their starting east, they had
some dispute with the Indians, and shot a large number of them without
any of their own men being hurt. Also, says Cowley, “ we took four
of these infidels prisoners and brought them on board, binding their
Hands behind them ; but they had not been long there when three of
them leaped overboard into the Sea, swimming away from the Ship with
their Hands tied behind them : However, we sent the Boat after them,
and found a strong Man at the first Blow could not penetrate their skins
with a Cutlace ; one of them had received in my judgment 40 shots in
his body before he died ; and the last of the three that was killed had
swam a good English mile first, not only with his Hands behind him,
but also with his Arms pinioned.” A very interesting observation, which
tells us even more about the mind of William Ambrosia than about the
thickness of the poor Indians’ skulls.

CIRCUMNAVIGATES THE GLOBE 115

Dampier was now appointed pilot, or navigating
officer, on the “ Cygnet,” Swan’s ship. He does not
say so himself, but it is plain firom what followed. He
was very much in Swan’s confidence, in fact his right-
hand man. The intention to sail to the Eastern Seas
was at first a carefully guarded secret between the two
of them. Moreover, Dampier was looked up to by the
whole ship’s company as a recognized expert in all
matters connected with the sea. He even admits it
himself. The passage in question — ^which I take from
his manuscript, where it is much fuller than in his book —
runs as follows :

“ It was first mentioned here [at the Maria Islands,
off the coast of Mexico, according to the book ; at Cape
Corrientes, according to the manuscript] of going to
East India, but many opposed it. Captain Swan and
Josiah Teat [he of the clams] who came out of England
Swan’s chief mate, were very earnest for it, and though
I was such, for I left Davis for the same purpose, yet
had still a mind to make farther discoveries, and my
advice and counsell was ever accepted by the Company,
as much as any one man’s ; and indeed it was ever a
designe between Captain Swan and myself to promote it
and use our utmost endeavour to persuade the unthinking
Rabble to it ; and although we had discoursed of such
a voyage a long time before, yet never till now proposed
it. The chiefest objection that the adverse party had
against it was want of provision. . .

This is the sole and only reference that this least
boastful of men ever makes to the esteem in which he
was held by his fellow-buccaneers. And even now he
changes his mind before the book is published, and cuts
the passage out ! In the book, indeed, he leaves us to
conclude that he personally had nothing to do with the

WILLIAM DAMPIER

ii6

decision. “ Captain Swan,” he says, without any refer-
ence to himself, “here proposed to go into the East
Indies : Many were well pleased with the voyage, but
some thought, such was their Ignorance, that he would
carry them out of the World ; for about two thirds of
our Men did not think there was any such way to be
found ; but at last he gained their Consents.”

The whole incident is illuminating in the light it
throws on Dampier’s character. There is no sign yet
of that famous temper of his, no vacillation or indecision
such as his enemies later accused him of. But there is
a high spirit of adventure, and a full measure of that
eager, unselfish curiosity which has been the mark of
every great explorer since the world began. Few English
discoverers — I think none at all — ^have been more con-
scious than Dampier that their work was greater than
themselves.

But before they sailed for the East there was to be
one further misfortune — as though to prove to them
that there were no more easy plums to be picked in the
West. Swan was still cruising off the coast of Mexico —
at first in company with Townley, later by himself — not
gaining much booty, nor increasing his popularity with
the inhabitants,^ when he decided to seize the town of
Santa Pecaque on the mainland, about a hundred miles
north of Cape Corrientes, with the object of replenishing
his stock of provisions — ^for he had always that Eastern
voyage in mind. But this flabby commander — flabby
in both senses of the word — ^was already showing that
weakness as a disciplinarian which was to be his ruin
later on. Once comfortably established in Santa
Pecaque, his men got out of hand, and refused to

^ Dampier records that on one occasion a friendly Spaniard on horse-
back was in the act of drinking a health to the buccaneers when “ one of
our men snatched up his gun, and let drive at him, and killed his horse.”
In fact they behaved like bullies.

CIRCUMNAVIGATES THE GLOBE

117

move from the neighbourhood of the wine-cellars until
all the provisions had been carried down to the canoes.
Swan was therefore compelled, against his better judg-
ment, to send off a party with a long string of horses
carrying the goods. Presently those in the town heard
the sound of heavy firing ; but they still refused to budge,
until riderless horses with blood-stained saddles came
galloping in, bearing plain proof of disaster. Then
they marched out, and found the baggage train scattered
and all their comrades dead, “ and so cut and mangled
that we scarce knew one man.” They lay, says Dampier,
“ all along the path as they were killed, one and one,
not two abreast anywhere, by which it was easy to guess
that their own folly ruined them, for they had as many
horses as men, and therefore every man led his horse,
which made a great distance between the foremost and
the hindermost, and the Spaniards had the advantage to
destroy them singly.”

They lost fifty men here, and among the dead was
that unfortunate gentleman, Mr. Basil Ringrose — “ my
ingenious friend,” says Dampier, recording the incident
with a rare touch of feeling. Ringrose had transferred
to the “ Cygnet ” with Dampier, and was employed by
Swan as “ Cape-Merchant or Supercargo.” Dampier
must have felt the loss of Ringrose keenly ; for Wafer
had gone with Davis, and with the doubtful exception
of Captain Swan, there was no other kindred spirit on
board.

Quite discouraged by this reverse, the buccaneers
re-embarked, and drifted down the coast to the Maria
Islands, where Dampier, who had been suffering for
some time with dropsy, effected a cure by burying
himself up to the neck in the hot sand, and remaining
there for half an hour — ^afiter which he “ did sweat
exceedingly.” It was here that Swan and Dampier
opened up their project of a voyage to the East, as

WILLIAM DAMPIER

ii8

recorded above, and they must have found the men in
a receptive mood. The astonishing fact emerges that
no one knew the exact distance to the Ladrones, their
first port of call. In the Spanish maps, the distance
from Cape Corrientes was given as between 2300 and
2400 leagues, whereas the English made less than two
thousand. As they had only sixty days’ provisions on
board, caclulating at the rate of half a pint of maize
daily for each man — and they had practically nothing
else but maize — it will be allowed that the “ Rabble,”
as Dampier calls them,^ showed a very commendable
spirit in falling in with Swan’s proposal. What seems
to have clinched the argument was the captain’s promise
to cruise among the Philippines in an attempt to intercept
the valuable “ Manila ship ” (which they had already
been looking for in vain) when it arrived there from
America.

So they set sail across the Pacific on the 31st March,
1686. They were two ships in company, Captain
Swan’s ship the “ Cygnet,” and a small barque com-
manded by Teat. “We were 150 Men, 100 aboard
of the Ship and 50 aboard the Bark, besides Slaves ” —
of which there cannot have been many. They had
“ a fresh Trade-wind ” and very fair weather, so that
Dampier “ made many good observations of the Sun.”
But the men were troublesome, and early insisted on an
increase in their rations. Dampier, for his part, thought
the short allowance suited him, “ for I found that my
strength increased and my dropsy wore off.” One man
was caught stealing food, and was condemned to receive
three blows from a rope’s end from every person on the
ship. “ Captain Swan began first, and struck with a
good Will ; whose example was followed by all of us.”
They saw no fish of any sort, but “ a great number of
boobies.” When they had covered a distance which,
^ Seepage 115.

CIRCUMNAVIGATES THE GLOBE

119

according to the English reckoning, should have brought
Guam Island under their bows, the men began to
murmur against the captain for bringing them on the
voyage. But he soothed them with fair promises ; and,
sure enough, a few days later. Teat, who was ahead,
sighted land. At four o’clock on the 20th May they
cast anchor “ to our great joy ” at the island of Guam.

They had then just three days’ rations left. Dampier
afterwards discovered that the men, in their desperation,
had formed a plot, which was “ first to kill Captain
Swan and eat him when the Victuals was gone, and after
him all of us who were accessory in promoting the
undertaking this Voyage.” On hearing of this. Swan
remarked, “ Ah, Dampier, you would have made them
but a poor Meal ! ” — for the pilot, as he explains, “ was
as lean as the Captain was lusty and fleshy.” At the
end of his account in his journal of this fifty-two days’
voyage, Dampier appends a table, showing the vessels’
daily course, the position at the beginning and end of each
day, with a note on the winds. He adds that he would
have given a further set of figures to show the variation
of the needle, but that it “ was very small in this course.”

The hungry sailors found at Guam rice, cocoanuts
and bread-fruit in abundance, and no doubt did them-
selves well. Dampier’s description of the bread-fruit,
so familiar to the modern traveller, was probably the
first to reach England. Another novelty in those days
was the drink called arack, of which the buccaneers
partook freely. Dampier liked it well enough, but he
remarks that “ it must have a dash of brandy to hearten
it,” being not strong enough “ to make good punch of
itself.” It was not until dusk that the “ Cygnet ” came
in close to the shore, and the Spaniards in the fort
evidently mistook her for a vessel of their own nationality.
One of their priests, coming on board under that impres-
sion, was promptly seized, and through him negotia-

120

WILLIAM DAMPIER

tions were opened with the Governor, who consented to
supply them with pork, in addition to the vegetarian
fare mentioned above.

The “ Indians ” of Guam, who were very hostile to
the Spaniards, tried to persuade the buccaneers to attack
the fort, but Swan would have nothing to do with it.
On the contrary, he cultivated friendly relations with
the Governor, and, at the latter’s request, made him a
present of an “ English dog,” which they had on board.
The animal was evidently a sort of ship’s pet, for
Dampier tells us that the gift went “ much against the
grain of many of the Men, who had a great value for
that Dog.” At the same time, this friendly Governor
sent out swift canoes to warn all Spanish ships of the
presence of the buccaneers — we can hardly blame him
for that. The truth is that the Spaniards of these
islands, as in other parts of the world, would willingly
have traded with the English if their dog-in-the-manger
Government would have permitted it ; and the local
governors, here as elsewhere, would often wink at
such commerce, providing their own perquisites were
assured.

From Guam Captain Swan sailed to Mindanao, the
southernmost of the Philippine Islands, there to do a
little trading on his own account and — as his men
hoped — to keep an eye cocked for the Manila ship.
Their reception at Mindanao town, where they arrived
on the 1 8 th July, was almost overwhelmingly friendly :
so much so that they quite settled down in the place,
and lived there for a period of six months. A good
many of them died there, too, as shall be told presently.
Mindanao was at this time independent of Spain ; but
Manila was only just across the way, and the Sultan of
Mindanao no doubt felt that his position would be con-
siderably strengthened against that dangerous neighbour
if a large party of Englishmen were settled in his country.

CIRCUMNAVIGATES THE GLOBE

I2I

He did his best to encourage them to stay. Dampier,
for his part, regrets that they did not forthwith abandon
their “ roving life ” and establish a permanent trading
“ factory ” in this hospitable land. He thought there
was money to be made ; and he points out that they
had among them carpenters, bricklayers, shoemakers,
tailors, etc., so that they would have been very well able
to look after themselves.

In the meantime, he was very greatly interested in
the Mindanayans. He was constantly ashore with his
note-book, observing the manners and customs of the
people, and the plant and animal life of the island. He
interposes a little essay on the plantain, which he “ takes
to be the king of all Fruit, not except the Coco itself.”
The clove, the nutmeg, and the betel-nut came under
his eye, as also the durian, which he says “ sends forth
an excellent scent ” — a point on which not everyone will
agree with him. On the whole he liked the people.
The women were free with strangers, but without losing
their self-respect. They “ walk stately ” and they wash
themselves twice a day, night and morning, a habit
which astonishes our seventeenth-century Englishman.
He adopted the practice himself after a bit, and believed
that it cured him of an attack of dysentery. On the
other hand, the houses were insanitary, and the living-
rooms gave forth “ a prodigious stink.” Another nasty
habit of the Mindanayans was that of poisoning those
who offended them, “ even upon small occasions.”
Dampier adds : “ Nor did our Men want for giving
offence, through their general Rogueries, and sometimes
by dallying too familiarly with their Women, even before
their Faces.” Some of the buccaneers died from the
effect of these slow poisons long after they had left the
island.

The Englishmen found a staunch friend at the Sultan’s
court in the person of Raja Laut, the commander-in-

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WILLIAM DAMPIER

chief of the army. This powerful minister entertained
Swan at his palace, advised him on the conduct of his
men in their intercourse with the people, and invited
parties of them to join in processions through the streets
on occasions of public rejoicing. In fact he sought to
show them honour in every possible way. There were
difficulties even with him. On one occasion the ship’s
cobbler presented him with a pair of English shoes,
which turned out to contain hogs’ bristles, to the horror
of this pious Moslem. Another time some of the
English were giving an exhibition of dancing in their
national manner, when Raja Laut’s attention was attracted
by the agility of a certain John Thacker, who “ was a
seaman bred,” says Dampier, and had “ learnt to dance
in the musick-houses about Wapping.”

Now Thacker had been with Captain Harris in the
South Seas, and had laid out some of his ill-gotten gains
in the purchase of an unusually fine suit of clothes.
The Raja — or the “ General,” as Dampier always calls
him — ^therefore turned to one of the other sailors, and
innocently enquired whether Thacker were not a person
of noble extraction. The man thus addressed saw an
opening for a good joke at their host’s expense, and
proceeded to pitch him such a yarn that Raja Laut
began to treat the astonished Thacker with the deference
due to a great nobleman. Unfortunately Captain Swan
got to hear of it, and in a great rage gave the “ noble-
man ” a sound drubbing — nor could he ever endure
him afterwards, though, as Dampier remarks, “ the poor
fellow knew nothing of the matter.”

Swan, as a matter of fact, was getting spoilt. He
had become a swaggering bully. When he sat down to
table, his “ two Trumpeters sounded all the time that
he was at dinner” — almost as though he were in a
modern London restaurant ! His weight must have
gone up prodigiously. He took to punishing his men

CIRCUMNAVIGATES THE GLOBE

123

in public, with the natives looking on. Even Teat,
his second-in-command, was publicly flogged. Teat
never forgave him. Finally, he began to quarrel with
Raja Laut — and all this without showing the slightest
intention of departing from the island, or of taking any
steps at all about the Manila ship. His men were
growing restive : two or three of them deserted, and
fled into the interior ; the others held meetings of
protest on the ship in Swan’s absence. When they were
not doing that they drank too much. This disgusted
Dampier, who, as we have noted, “ did ever abhor
drunkenness.” At the same time he admits that the
Mindanayans were so hospitable that an Englishman
“ could hardly pass the Streets, but we were even hal’d
by Force into their Houses, to be treated by them.”
Christmas Day came round with a great banquet on
board, when Swan was confidently expected to speak
his mind and indicate some scheme of future operations.
But he ate his dinner and went wheezily ashore again,
without saying a word of his intentions.

No one knew better than Dampier that the fat man
had not the slightest intention of going after the Manila
ship. Apart from being very comfortable where he was,
he was sick of buccaneering and of buccaneers, and was
only longing to be rid of it all, and go home to England,
and there throw himself upon the mercy of the Govern-
ment. Yet, as he said rather pathetically to Dampier
on one occasion, “ there is no Prince on Earth is able
to wipe oflF the stain of such Actions.” Undoubtedly
the poor fellow had a conscience. We have no record
of Dampier’s reply. In the meantime, however, if Swan
was sick of the buccaneers, they were becoming equally
sick of him. While he was disporting himself on shore,
some of them had been reading his journal, which was
left on the ship, and there found themselves most bitterly
blamed, in such a manner as could hardly fail to make

124

WILLIAM DAMPIER

things exceedingly uncomfortable for them should the
journal ever get to England. There was more grumbling
at this, and the injured Teat, aided by one John
Read, of Bristol, seized the opportunity to fan the flames
into open mutiny.

There is no doubt that they would have sailed away
forthwith, leaving Swan and I)ampier and many others
on shore, but for the accident that there happened to
be no surgeon on board at the time. To remedy this,
they sent a message to the town pretending that one of
them was ill, and after some delay Herman Coppinger,
the assistant surgeon, and a friend of Dampier’s, pre-
pared to go on board. By pure chance, Dampier went
with him. This was in the evening ; but when they
reached the ship and discovered the trick that had been
put upon them, they seem to have gone quietly to bed,
without making the slightest attempt to warn their
Captain, In the morning, however. Read and Teat put
out into the harbour, and there stayed and fired a gun,
as a signal to all who might wish to join them. At the
request of one or other of Swan’s friends, they remained
until 2 p.m., expecting to hear from him. But he
made no sign, and that afternoon the “ Cygnet ” sailed
away, leaving her commander and thirty-six other
Englishmen stranded in Mindanao.

It was a shabby trick — for even supposing that Swan
was indifferent how he left the buccaneers so long as he
left them, it would be a wild presumption to assume
that all the other thirty-six mariners were within hearing
at the time, or in a condition to make up their minds
about their futures. Yet we must not suppose that
they were all unwilling to remain. “ The main division,”
says Dampier shrewdly, “was between those that had
Money and those that had none. . . , For they that
had money lived ashore and did not care for leaving
Mindanao ; whilst those that were poor lived aboard.

CIRCUMNAVIGATES THE GLOBE 125

and urged Captain Swan to go to sea.” Dampier was
among the poor ones.

There is, however, good evidence that his passive
acquiescence in the desertion of Swan weighed on
Dampier’s conscience. Perhaps some instinct warned
him that a time would come when he himself would
have trouble with his men. He was now on a pirate ship
rather than a buccaneer. Read took command, with Teat
as master and Henry More as quartermaster. Dampier
was distrusted at first ; but later he seems to have been
made merchants’ representative, or supercargo. ,

I think it unnecessary to follow this singularly iinre-
munerative voyage in detail. After cruising unsuccess-
fully in the Gulf of Siam, they sailed north to the
Pescadores Islands, between Formosa and the mainland
of China, where the Governor sent them a present of
the “ fattest and kindliest Beef that I did ever taste in
any foreign country,” and the men “ licked their lips ”
over a new kind of strong liquor distilled locally from
wheat. From there to “ Bashi Island,” which the crew,
characteristically, named after a kind of beer which the
inhabitants made (and the islands bear the name to this
day). Here they obtained meat, for the natives would
exchange “ a good fat goat for an old iron hoop,” and
here they remained from the 6th August to the
3rd October, 1687, eating and drinking their fill, but
getting no richer. Passing southward down the eastern
side of the Philippines, with the idea of making for the
Spice Islands, they reached Mindanayan territory once
more ; and here Dampier’s conscience quite got the
upper hand. While Read and Teat and others were on
shore, he made an eloquent appeal to the remainder of
the crew, and got them to agree to sail round the island
to Mindanao town, and take Swan off. But one man
slipped away, and warned the leaders, who came on
board and “ presently dissuaded the men from any such

126

WILLIAM DAMPIER

design.” They seem to have borne no ill-will to
Dampier for his action ; but he and Coppinger had long
ago made up their minds to leave “ this mad crew ” at
the first opportunity.

Many months later Dampier heard of the fate of
Swan. He served with distinction in Raja Laut’s army,
and the latter appeared to be grateful, but would never
listen to any of Swan’s requests to be allowed to return
to England. The point is that Swan had with him
£$ooo in gold, the property of the owners of the
“ Cygnet,” and Raja Laut knew it. Some of Swan’s
men died in Mindanao, and some got away on Dutch
ships. Finally he and his head surgeon secured a small
canoe, and had just put off secretly from the shore in an
endeavour to reach a Dutch sloop which lay in the
roads, when they were overtaken by a party of natives
who upset their canoe, after seizing the money, and
killed them both as they struggled in the water. Almost
certainly Raja Laut was the villain of the piece.

In pursuance of their resolution to go for the Spice
Islands, Read and Teat sailed next to the Celebes, and
here occurred one of the most puzzling incidents in the
whole of Dampier’s career. On December 27th, in the
most disappointingly casual way imaginable, they decided
to have a look at Australia — '•'■terra Australia incognita ” —
just “ to see what that country would afford us.” This
is less than we should have expected of our explorer.
At the moment, evidently, he saw nothing in the project
more than another probably futile attempt on the part
of Read and Teat to “ get rich quick.” He does,
however, remark with some show of interest that “ it is
notyet determined whether it (Australia, or New Holland,
as it was called on contemporary maps) is an Island or
a Main Continent ” ; adding that he personally is con-
vinced that “ it joins neither to Asia, Africa nor America ”
— a pretty safe guess in the case of the last two !

CIRCUMNAVIGATES THE GLOBE

127

As supercargo, Dampier can have had very little to
do with laying the course, but as usual he kept his eyes
open, and his notes are very full. The voyage was
uneventful. On the 14th January, 1688, they made
their landfall in the latitude of 16° $ 0 '. Mr. Clark
Russell^ thinks this may have meant Bathurst, or
Melville Island, which would make Dampier’s note of
the latitude grossly incorrect. Mr. Masefield favours
King Sound, or, alternatively. Collier Bay. I see no
reason to doubt the wisdom of the mapmakers, who
have named the country round King Sound “ Dampier
Land,” and the group of islands at its mouth — ^there was
“ an abundance of islands,” says Dampier — ^the “ Buc-
caneer Archipelago.”

They were not unduly impressed by their first glimpse
of Australia. The land was barren, and there was
nothing of interest to be seen except some strange
tracks upon the sand like those of “ a great mastilf
dog,” possibly made by dingoes. They cast anchor,
however, and established themselves on shore, and,
eventually, got in touch with some of the aborigines.
Here we get Dampier at his most amusing best. His
description of the people is unflattering. Even the
“ Hodmadods ” (Hottentots), though “ a nasty people,”
are “ gentlemen to these.” The buccaneers completely
failed to make these people understand them, gesticulate
as they would. The black men merely “ grinned like
so many monkeys.”

But what impressed Dampier most was that even the
offer of European clothes and little pieces of finery made
no impression on their minds — a point on which they
would seem to have been inferior even to monkeys 1 It
was the same with the ship, though they could never
have seen anything like it in their lives. Nearly all of
them suffered from “ bad eyes,” which made it easy to

^ Op. cit.

128

WILLIAM DAMPIER

approach and catch them ; and the buccaneers, seeking
to establish good relations, caught two or three of them
and took them on board, where they were treated to
such dainties as the ship’s larder could boast. But they
merely gobbled up any food within reach, without lifting
their eyes from it, or displaying the faintest interest in
their strange surroundings. Dampier took the trouble
to find out all about their methods of catching fish, and
describes them in detail ; but adds the surprising state-
ment that they possessed “ no instruments ” for hunting
bird or beast. Apparently he never saw a boomerang.

At the beginning of March, they prepared to depart,
and Dampier chose this moment to put in a plea to be
allowed to leave the company, asking them to set him
ashore at the nearest English factory. In reply. Read
threatened to maroon him, and he therefore said no
more, but waited quietly for an opportunity to desert.
After all, no one was making a penny out of this absurdly
pointless voyage. At Bashi Islands they had been offered
gold rings for sale at derisive prices, but Dampier had
no money to buy anything then. As supercargo, he
could have used some of the iron which was stacked in
the hold ; but this was really the property of the owners,
and his conscience prevented him.

After leaving Australia, their first port of call was an
island near Sumatra, and here Read used a characteristic
method of stopping desertions. He deliberately ill-
treated the natives, in order that his crew might become
unpopular and be afraid to go ashore. Another result
must have been to prevent any trading operations !
From Sumatra they sailed to the Nicobar Islands, and
here at last Dampier broke away, and put a final end to
his career as a buccaneer.

It was a blazing hot day, and the tar all blistering in
the seams of the ship’s deck as she swung at anchor,
and the Nicobar beach looked empty and inhospitable

CIRCUMNAVIGATES THE GLOBE t2$

enough — ^for the people had all fled at the approach of
the buccaneers — ^when Dampier approached the skipper
with an innocent request to be allowed to land. A surly
nod, and “ I soon got up my chest and bedding and
immediately got some to row me ashore, for fear lest
his mind should change again.” The canoe danced
lightly across the waves, piled high with Dampier’s
belongings, those melancholy, obstinate eyes of his
turning often back towards the ship to mark whether
the manner of his departure, with all his goods about
him, had been noted. Arriving on the beach, his ship-
mates helped him ashore, and he carried up his things
to one of the deserted houses, intending to settle down
there for the night.

But it was not to be so easy. An hour later. Teat
arrived with an armed party, and compelled him with
threats to return to the ship. There he found every-
thing in an uproar. Three more men — Coppinger,
Robert Hall and one Ambrose, whose surname we never
got — encouraged by Dampier’s example, had announced
their intention of joining him on shore. The morale of
the buccaneers had gone to pieces, and the crew openly
sympathized with the deserters. Daunted by the clamour.
Read at last agreed to everything except the loss of his
surgeon, whom he swore he would keep. Coppinger
thereupon sprang into Dampier’s canoe, and, snatching
up a gun, threatened to shoot anyone who should detain
him. But several of them jumped in after him, and
dragged him back to the ship. Dampier, Hall and
Ambrose were allowed to go ; “ and one of the men
that rowed us ashore stole an Axe and gave it to us,
knowing it was a good Commodity with the Indians.”

It was already dark when they landed in the little
bay ; so they lit candles, and Dampier, “ being the
oldest Stander in our new Country,” conducted the
others across the white beach into one of the empty

tjd WILLIAM DAMHER

houses. There they slung their hammocks. “ It was
a fine clear Moonlight Night,” he says, with an uncon-
sciously dramatic touch, “ in which we were left ashore ” ;
and they “ walked on the sandy Bay to watch when the
Ship would weigh and be gone, not thinking ourselves
secure in our new-gotten Liberty till then.” At last
they saw her white sails move out from the bay, and
fade into the darkness.

“ Then we returned to our Chamber, and so to sleep.
This was the sixth of May.”

Only twenty-four hours earlier, had they but known
it. King James II had published his Declaration of
Indulgence which was to lose him his throne ; and as
Dampier and his friends stood alone on the beach at
Nicobar, watching the departure of their ship, Dutch
William was sitting down to prepare his plans for the
invasion of England.

CHAPTER VIII

HE MAKES A NAME IN ENGLAND

T was a curiously assorted group of
mixed nationality whom we left in the
last chapter standing on the beach at
Nicobar. Soon after Dampier, Hall,
and Ambrose had reached the shore,
another boat came after them, bringing
— by the Captain’s orders — four
Malays of Achin who had been cap-
tured by the buccaneers in a native boat off Sumatra,
and an unfortunate Portuguese whom they had taken out
of a Siamese junk in the Gulf of Siam, and had been
carrying about with them ever since, employing him as
an interpreter. They were now in a part of the world
where Portuguese was not spoken, and the interpreter
and the Malayan prisoners were, from Read’s point of
view, just so many extra mouths to feed. He was no
doubt glad to shift the responsibility on to Dampier ’s
shoulders. The three English deserters, for their part,
found the Malays extremely useful in helping them to
get food. Dampier evidently did not like the “ mongrel
Portuguese,” as he calls him — indeed, he despised the
whole nation, “ than whom are not a more despicable
People now in all the Eastern Nations.”

The first thing to do was to establish friendly relations
with the natives. Dampier felt quite easy on this score.
Speaking from an already wide experience, he expresses
the opinion that “ there are no people in the World so
barbarous as to kill a single Person that falls accidentally

132 WILLIAM DAMPIER

into their Hands, or comes to live among them ; except
they have been injured by some Outrage or Violence
committed against them.” He also expresses a dis-
belief in the existence of cannibalism, which, as we now
know unfortunately, did more credit to his heart than
to his head. However, it had never come within his own
experience, and in such a situation as he then was in, his
ignorance was bliss. He was to require all his tact the
next morning when the native landlord turned up, and
was not a little astonished to find his house full of
strangers. They pacified him with the present of an
axe, in return for which he gave them his canoe.

The possession of this canoe filled them with joy.
Already they saw themselves safe and sound at the
English factory at Achin in Sumatra, 1 50 miles away by
sea across the Indian Ocean. In the enthusiasm of the
moment, they even launched the crazy vessel straight
away, and tumbled into it with all their things, intending
to make for the southernmost point of the island, and
wait there “ till the monsoon shifted.” A hundred
yards from the shore the canoe capsized, leaving them
to swim for their lives, dragging with them their chests
and clothing. Everything was wet, and they remained
on the beach for three days drying themselves and their
belongings with the aid of a fire which they lit.
Dampier specifically says that their papers had to be
dried, and we get a picture of him anxiously holding the
leaves of his precious journal close to the flames.

When we consider that the gunwales of this canoe
were not more than three inches above the water, it is
amazing that they should have contemplated any sea
voyage in it — ^much less a trip to Achin ! But the
Malays now fitted it with “ outlagers,” or outriggers,
such as may be seen on many native canoes to-day, and
these had the effect of steadying the little craft, and
preventing it from taking in too much water. So they

MAKES A NAME IN ENGLAND 133

sailed safely to the south of the island, and waited there,
according to plan. The natives in this part were very-
hostile, which gave Dampier an opportunity of trying
his theories upon them. He would walk smilingly
towards them, while they shook their weapons at him
and howled with rage ; then, suddenly turning on his
heel, he would present his back while he fired his musket
towards the sea, “ so that they might see the shot graze
on the water.” Thus he would indicate at once the
sharpness of his claws and his desire not to use them
unless compelled. The result was that they were pre-
sently able to trade with the inhabitants, and purchase
cocoanuts and native bread for their impending voyage.

On the 15th May, 1688, Dampier and his seven com-
panions set out from Nicobar on one of the most remark-
able canoe voyages of which we have any record. Before
leaving the “ Cygnet,” Dampier had studied the ship’s
chart of the East Indies, and taken some notes in his
pocket-book which were of good service now. He had
also brought away his pocket compass. He says that
Hall was the only one of his companions who had the
least idea of the peril of their present undertaking, and
that the responsibility for the lives of the other six, who
trusted them wholeheartedly, weighed heavily upon these
two. He and Hall took it in turns to steer. On the
second day out, they found, to their keen disappointment,
that the current had carried them back, so that they were
again in sight of Nicobar. On the third day the wind
freshened, and soon the sky was full of clouds and it
blew a gale. That day, for the first time, Dampier was
unable to take his usual observations of the sun ; but
he kept up the entries in his diary both then and through-
out this voyage. Having given his directions to Hall,
and ordered the sail to be furled, he lay down to
sleep.

A few hours later they waked him. The wind was

WILLIAM DAMPIER

134

blowing harder, and the sea “ roaring in a white Foam
about us.” There was “ a dark Night coming on and
no Land in sight to shelter us, and our little Ark in
danger to be swallowed by every Wave.” Worst of all,
“ none of us thought ourselves prepared for another
World.” There is the authentic Robinson Crusoe touch
in Dampier’s reflections upon this occasion. Indeed, it
is clear that the passage I am about to quote must have
caught the eye of that great journalist, Daniel Defoe. I
do not find Dampier in the same repentant mood any-
where in the long history of his wanderings. He
writes :

“ I have been in many imminent Dangers before now,
some of which I have already related, but the worst of
them all was but a Play-game in comparison with this.
. . . Other Dangers came not upon me with such a
leisurely and dreadful Solemnity. A sudden Skirmish
or Engagement or so was nothing when one’s Blood
was up, and pushed forward with eager Expectations.
But here I had a ling’ring view of approaching Death,
and little or no hopes of escaping it ; and I must confess
that my Courage which I had hitherto kept up failed
me here ; and I made very sad Reflections on my former
Life, and looked back with Horrour and Detestation on
Actions which before I disliked, but now I trembled at
the remembrance of. I had long before this repented
me of that roving Course of Life, but never with such
concern as now. I did also call to mind the many
miraculous Acts of God’s Providence towards me in the
whole Course of my Life, of which kind I believe few
Men have met with the like. For all these I returned
Thanks in a peculiar Manner, and thus once more
desired God’s Assistance, and composed my Mind as
well as I could in the Hope of it, and as the event
shew’d, I was not disappointed of my Hopes.”

MAKES A NAME IN ENGLAND

135

There is a simple dignity and natural eloquence in that
passage which Defoe himself could hardly have equalled.

About midnight the wind abated, and they set their
small mat-sail ; but at two o’clock it blew up again,
and thunder and lightning followed with a heavy fall of
rain, so that they were soaked to the skin and in “ a
starveling plight.” Dampier or Hall steered, while the
others baled for their lives. Only the outriggers pre-
vented their “ little ark ” from sinking. By noon on
the following day they came in sight of land, and early
next morning on their fifth day out from Nicobar they
got into a small harbour (apparently Passir) on the
island of Sumatra, about a hundred miles east of Achin.
They were so exhausted that it was all they could do to
stagger into the nearest fishing village — ^where their
Malays were fortunately “ well acquainted ” — ^and throw
themselves down on the first beds that were oflFered.
Here they lay for a fortnight, all the Europeans of the
party racked with fever which they could not shake off.
Dampier tried to bleed himself with his pen-knife, but
the blade was too blunt. Natives would come to the
door of their hut and stand in groups staring at them.
At last a local notable sent them on by canoe to Achin,
where the merchants of the English factory were much
interested in their story, placed a room at their disposal,
and left them to recover their health. In the case of
two of them, it was too late. The Portuguese died
within three days, and Ambrose a little later. Hall was
almost given up, but eventually recovered. As for
Dampier, his illness left him with a kind of chronic
dysentery, which handicapped him for many months.
Only an insatiable traveller would have defied it, as he
did, instead of taking the first available passage home
to England.

It is also true that only a penniless adventurer, as he
was, would have thought it necessary to get another job

WILLIAM DAMPIER

136

almost at once. Having refused the offer of a trip to
Persia, Dampier next signed on with a Captain Weldon,
to go with him on a voyage to Tonquin, this being
the month of July, 1688. Weldon promised that at
Tonquin he would buy a sloop and put Dampier in
command of her to trade on the coast of Cochin China ;
and this no doubt was an attractive prospect. Moreover,
he might hope that the sea-voyage would restore his
health, and that of his friend. Hall, who accompanied
him, though in a very weak condition. The journey
that followed is described in Dampier’s Voyage to Tonquin ;
and it may be said at once that, in spite of his continued
illness, his journal is nowhere more full and accurate
and entertaining than it is at this time. The journey
which he made in the country now called French Indo-
China, entirely unaccompanied, ignorant of the language,
and suffering all the time from his wasting disease,
constituted a remarkable feat of endurance, and the liveli-
ness of his descriptions shows that nothing could damp
his spirits when there were strange sights to be seen.
They sailed about twenty miles up the Tonquin river,
and anchored. This was the spot normally resorted to
by English trading vessels, and Dampier tells us that
“ a little town ” had sprung up there in a month’s
time.

Cachao, or Cha-cho, another hundred miles up the
river, was the capital of Tonquin, and there was an
English factory there. Dampier visited this factory,
travelling in the “ country boats,” and enjoying the
“ delightful prospect of a large level fruitful country.”
He stayed there seven or eight days, and gives us an
account of the place almost as full as in the case of
Mindanao. Returning to the ship, he “ lay on board
for a great while and sickly for the most part ; yet not
so much but that I took a boat and went ashoar one
where or other almost every day.” And thus “ I took

MAKES A NAME IN ENGLAND 137

as particular notice as I could of the country.” Let us
take a few of his observations at random.

Of the local cooking — ^which must have been a subject
of painful interest to him in view of the nature of his
malady — ^he says : “ They have many Sorts of Dishes
that would turn the Stomach of a Stranger.” He does
not appear to have encountered the edible bird’s nest,
but he refers with something like a shudder to a dish
consisting mainly of raw pork. He greatly admired the
lacquer-work, but remarks that their joiners or cabinet-
makers were bunglers compared with ours. A certain
Captain Pool was the first to take the wise step of bringing
out joiners from England to make “ fashionable com-
modities ” — cabinets, desks and so on — for the natives
to lacquer afterwards. The Tonquinese earthenware was
not such a marketable article as it had been before the
superiority of the “ China ware” became known in Europe.

It is rather surprising to find Dampier complaining
of the ill-paved streets in Cachao. “ In the wet season,”
he says, “ they are very dirty ; and in the dry time
there are many stagnant Ponds, and some ditches full
of black stinking mud in and about the city.” Yet
seventeenth-century London had nothing “ on ” Cachao
in this respect.^ The Tonquinese, he found, made excel-
lent servants, like the Chinese ; but, like them, too,
were slaves to “ the Reigning Vice among the Eastern
Nations ” — gaming. “ Neither the awe of their Masters,

^ Only a proportion of the London streets were paved. All were very
muddy and bestrewn with “ base, ill-favoured rubbish,” so that passers-
by were “forced to stop their noses” according to a contemporary
authority. The Strand was so bad that merchants and others often had
to leave their coaches stuck there in the mire and complete the journey
to the City by the river. Pepys nearly broke his leg crossing London
Bridge one night, through putting his foot into a large hole in the roadway.
English roads in general have never been so bad, before or since, as in
this half-century following the Civil War. And those of Somerset
(Dampier’s native county) had a specially evil reputation !

WILLIAM DAMPIER

138

nor anything else is sufficient to restrain them till they
have lost all they have, even their very Cloathes.” Here
we are confronted by the unchanging East. It is hardly an
exaggeration to say that if Dampier were to start on his
travels again to-day he might wander over that particular
part of the world without noticing any change, provided
he kept away from the ports and the occasional railway
lines.

After five or six weeks of spasmodic sight-seeing, with
the ship as his base, he became “ weary of lying still and
impatient of seeing something that might further gratify
my curiosity.” So he hired a Tonquinese guide for
one dollar, and started up the river again, this time on
foot in order to see as much as possible of the surrounding
country. In his pocket he had just two dollars ! His
fever, “ which I brought from Achin,” had left him, but
the dysentery was worse than ever, owing to his having
foolishly eaten fruit.

His guide could not speak a word of English nor he
of Tonquinese. On the whole, it was an adventurous
undertaking, even for an ex-buccaneer. They did not
stick to the tow-path, but struck out boldly across
country. The people, as a rule, were remarkably
kind and courteous to Dampier, who must have seemed
a far ‘stranger figure to them than even the modern
tourist does. At every village they came to, this ill-
assorted pair were given lodgings for the night ; and
after supper — ^usually of rice and eggs or a roasted yam —
Dampier, if the evening was not too hot, “ took a ramble
about the Village to see what was worth taking notice
of.” It was generally dark before he returned to his
rough couch. ” My guide,” he says, “ carried my sea-
gown, which was my covering in the night, and my
pillow was a log of wood.” He can hardly have been
unaware of the risk he ran — or, if he was, it was abruptly
borne in upon him a few days later.

MAKES A NAME IN ENGLAND

139

They were wandering across some fields on the third
day of their journey when they observed a large crowd
of natives assembled round a small wooden tower. There
were stalls loaded with fruit and meat — ^Dampier esti-
mates that there must have been “ fifty or sixty hogs
cut up ” — and a busy air of coming and going, which
suggested to Dampier that this must be a market. The
only thing that puzzled him was the tower, and when
they reached the crowd he elbowed his way through to
have a look at it. “I went round the tower and viewed
it. ... I saw no door to enter in : it seemed very
slightly built with thin boards.” It was, as a matter
of fact, a funeral pyre, and the whole scene — ^the crowd,
the stalls and the food — ^were but part of the ceremonial
connected with the decease of a local notable, who was
now about to be cremated, along with a handsome
supply of provisions for use in the other world. Dampier
was quite unaware of this. Leaving the tower, he turned
towards the stalls. It was now “ between four and five
o’clock In the afternoon,” and he was wanting his
“ supper ” ; so he walked up to the meat stalls, and
taking hold of a quarter of pork made signs for a piece
to be cut off for him. Instantly Bedlam broke loose.
The crowd set upon him. “ They assaulted me on all
sides, buffeting me and rending my Cloathes, and one
of them snatched away my Hat.” The guide, who had
no doubt been vainly trying to explain the situation,
now plunged in to the rescue. He dragged Dampier
out of the crowd, and dusted him down, and even
succeeded in recovering his hat for him. Then, after
profuse apologies to the angry mourners, he led our
hero away in a somewhat chastened mood.

On the fifth day they reached Hean, and here
Dampier dismissed his guide, and went on alone by
river boat. He sat on the deck among the native
passengers, feeling very lonely and very ill again. They

WILLIAM DAMPIER

T40

were a jovial enough party, “ but I was mute for want
of a person I could converse with.” Finally he reached
Cachao, and, after some difficulty, found his way to an
English merchant’s house, where he was hospitably
entertained. He learnt, however, that Weldon had no
intention of purchasing the sloop which was to have
been given to him, and he therefore returned to the ship
and went back to Achin with her when she sailed. He
had undoubtedly enjoyed his trip to Tonquin, and prob-
ably thought it well worth the discomfort he had endured.
But his continued ill-health had become a question that
could no longer be trifled with, and he therefore settled
down quietly to live at Achin for a time, not seeking
any work, and dieting himself on “ salt fish broyled and
boiled rice, mixed with tire (or sour milk).” The only
excitement during this period was a civil commotion
among the natives, some of whom wanted to get rid of
their Queen. The European residents, warned by the
authorities, packed up their valuables and rowed out to
the ships in the harbour, where they spent the night.
Dampier, who was still wretchedly ill, lay on his back
in one of the small boats, unable to sleep. As he stared
up at the sky, he noted that there was an eclipse of the
moon ; but he was too ill even to make a note of the
date in his diary.

When he was able to get about again, Dampier
sailed from Achin as mate of a trading ship, with a
crew of Moors under him. On their way to Malacca,
they spoke a Danish ship, and he found his old friend,
Herman Coppinger, on board. The surgeon had at last
succeeded in eluding the buccaneers, but he had not yet
found a means of getting back to England. In Malacca,
Dampier’s captain sold opium and other things. On
the way back, they had an amusing adventure at one of
the Dutch islands. It should be interjected here that
the Dutch had now become quite polite and helpful

MAKES A NAME IN ENGLAND 141

towards English traders. Dampier, in one of his rare
allusions to politics, opines that “ the news of our
Revolution [that of 1688] in England had sweetened
them ; for they often drank the King’s health with us
very heartily.”

The Governor of this particular island had invited
the English skipper and his passengers (including a lady)
to supper, and had sent out his men in boats to secure
a supply of fish for the occasion. He had also provided
punch, concocted from brandy, lime-juice and sugar.
Dampier, who had already dined with the Governor, was
left in charge of the ship, and was astonished to hear a
wild commotion on shore just when the festivities should
have been at their height.

What had happened was that in the middle of supper,
one of the Governor’s soldiers had burst in upon the
company crying out, “ The Malayans 1 ” The Governor
instantly sprang out of the window, followed by his
officers. “ Everyone of them,” says Dampier, “ took
the nearest way, some out of the Windows, others out
of the Doors, leaving the three Guests by themselves.”
The latter, when they had recovered from their astonish-
ment — for they had not understood a word that was
said — ^followed their hosts at their best speed, and pre-
sently found them all taking refuge in the fort. It then
appeared that one of the Governor’s fishing-boats had
been attacked by Malays and several of the fishers killed.
Dampier, on the ship, was not greatly alarmed, for it
was raining, and he knew from experience that the
Malays never undertook military operations in bad
weather. In this case he was right. It is plain, however,
from his rather malicious description of the behaviour
of the Dutchmen, that he hugely enjoyed the whole
incident.

Returning to Achin again, he met another member
of Read’s crew, who gave him a sad account of their

142

WILLIAM DAMPIER

fate. Some of them had joined the great Mogul, and
were last heard of plundering villages in the south of
India, and “ fleeing when they were pursued ” — in fact
behaving like brigands. Others took shore service under
a native prince in Madagascar. Read deserted his ship,
and got a passage to New York ; Teat joined the
Mogul ; and the “ Cygnet ” herself, with a crew of
strangers on board, was lost in the Red Sea on the way
home to England.

Dampier made several other trading voyages : one to
Fort St. George — he gives us an interesting description
of Madras in the year 1690 — and another to Bencoolen,
in Sumatra, where there was an English factory, and
where the Governor offered him the post of chief gunner
at the fort, with the duty of advising on the rebuilding
of the fortifications. That Dampier should have been
looked upon as an expert in military architecture seems
to reflect unfavourably upon the intelligence of the
Governor himself and his officers. However, he accepted
the post, and remained there for some months. He
staked out a new bastion “ with the curtain belonging
to it.” He began, and had almost finished a second,
but found that “ the Governor would not gratify me
for my pains, so in the night I had the stakes out of the
ground, and put them to seek a new method, for I knew
none of them did understand how to do it.” ^ Obviously
no man could have been with the buccaneers for close
on ten years without acquiring a rough knowledge of
how to build fortifications — and especially of how to do
it quickly — ^but that neither the Governor nor his officers
should have been able to carry on in his absence, not
even with one of his models before them, is an astonish-
ing fact.

About this time he had purchased a half-share in the
possession of an unfortunate native chief, the “ Prince
^ Dampiar’s marginal note in the manuscript of his journal.

MAKES A NAME IN ENGLAND

143

Jeoly ” or the “ Painted Prince,” as he calls him. He
had first seen Jeoly at Mindanao, where he was being
offered for sale to European visitors. He was a prisoner
of war from one of the islands, and his attraction in
the eyes of Dampier and Moody (the other part-owner)
was that his body was covered with tattoo marks of an
unusually elaborate pattern, which, it was thought, might
be exhibited in England with considerable profit to the
showmen. This unfortunate black was now at Bencoolen
with Dampier. So was his mother ; but she died, and
Dampier buried her under the walls of the fort. He
then addressed himself to the task of consoling her son,
whose grief was such that he nearly followed her to the
grave — s. calamity which Dampier was determined to
avert at all costs. Nor must we exclude the possibility
that he may have become attached to his “ painted
prince ” — “ whom I might have made a great deal of
money by.”

Dampier soon got tired of Bencoolen, and especially
of the Governor “ whose humours were brutish and
barbarous.” Also “ I began to long after my native
country, after so tedious a ramble from it.” Accordingly
on the 2nd January, 1691, he applied for permission
to return to England, a homeward-bound ship, the
“ Defence ” (Captain Heath), having just then arrived
in harbour. The CJovernor refused to let him go ; so
he sent Jeoly on board, and himself slipped out at mid-
night, “ creeping through one of the portholes of the
fort,” and getting off to the ship without being missed.
Next morning the vessel sailed, and Dampier entered
upon the last stage of his first circumnavigation of the
globe.

It was an unpleasant voyage. There was some
mysterious disease on board which proved fatal to no
fewer than thirty of the ship’s company before they
reached the Cape. Dampier thinks it was due to the

144 WILLIAM DAMPIER

water, and adds that the food was also very bad. How-
ever, Captain Heath struggled on, with barely enough
men to work the ship, and he was able to get some
additional hands at the Cape. After that they called at
St. Helena (then in the possession of the English East
India Company), where they stayed for some days, ^d
where the appearance of Jeoly caused a mild sensation
among the inhabitants. On July 2nd, in company with
two other ships, they resumed their voyage to England,
and on September i8th they were off the coast of
England and cast anchor in the Downs. Dampier had
been away for twelve years, and we will presume that
poor Judith, “ from the household of the Duke of
Grafton,” was glad to see him back again.

He landed in England penniless. All his boyhood’s
dreams of buccaneers loaded with booty, the spoils of
fair cities in West and East, had vanished into thin air.
He owned nothing but the clothes he stood up in. In
his hurried flight from Bencoolen, he had left behind
him all his ” books, drafts and instruments, clothes and
bedding and wages.” He had not brought back so
much as a parrot — only the faded, sea-stained, scarcely
legible sheets of his journal, tucked away in an inner
pocket ; and a half-share in this wretched, shivering
blackamoor. The fate of Jeoly is easily foreseen.
Dampier was soon compelled to sell his interest in him
for ready money. Removed from the care of one who
at any rate understood something of his requirements,
the unlucky prince was carted about England in the cold
autumn weather, until he finally caught smallpox at
Oxford and died. Mr. Masefield has unearthed a folio
broadsheet of the date 1691-92, which contains the
following vivid description of Jeoly :

“ This famous Painted Prince is the just wonder of
the Age, his whole Body (except Face, Hands and Feet)

MAKES A NAME IN ENGLAND f4§

is curiously and most exquisitely fainted or stained full
of Variety of Invention, with prodigious Art and Skill
perform’d. In so much, that the antient and noble
Mystery of Painting or Staining upon Humane Bodies
seems to be comprised in this one stately Piece.

“ The Pictures and those other engraven Figures
painted from him, and now dispersed abroad, serve only
to describe as much as they can of the Fore-parts of
this inimitable Piece of workmanship. The more admir-
able Back Parts afford us a Lively Representation of one
quarter part of the World upon and betwixt his shoulders,
where the Arcktick and Tropick Circles center in the
North Pole on his Neck.

“ This admirable Person is about the age of Thirty,
graceful and well proportioned in all his Limbs. . . .
He is e^osed to publick view every day (during his
stay in Town) from the i6th day of this instant June,
at his Lodgings at the Blew Boar’s Head in Fleet Street,
near Water Lane : where he will continue for some
time, if his health will permit.

“ But if any Persons of Quality, Gentlemen or Ladies,
do desire to see this noble Person at their own Houses,
or any other convenient place, in or about this City of
London : they are desired to send timely notice, and
he will be ready to wait upon them in a Coach or Chair,
any time they please to appoint, if in the day time.

“ VIVANT REX and REGINA ”

There is a curious portrait of Jeoly, engraved by Savage,
with a narrative of his adventures attached, also a smaller
one, copied from the above, with a purely fictitious life-
history. Dampier always threw cold water on these
romantic stories about his captive. All that was really
known of him, he explained, was contained in the brief
references in the Voyages.

WILLIAM DAMPIER

146

Nothing is known of Dampier’s movements during
the next five years. No doubt he went to live with his
own people in the West Country — not at East Coker,
but at his brother’s farm in Dorsetshire, or on the small
estate which he himself now possessed in that county.
The famil y seem to have been fairly prosperous — there
is an allusion in a letter to “ our ryefields ” and other
property — and they were probably inclined at first to
look upon Dampier as a poor relation of rather doubtful
antecedents.

Brother George, the farmer, was a man of enterprising
mind, very different from the ordinary bucolic type.
Indeed he seems to have had a keener eye for the main
chance than William ever displayed. About this time
he blossomed out as the inventor of a patent medicine,
known as “ Dampier’s powder,” which he claimed to
be an infallible cure for hydrophobia. It was made of
Jew’s-ear and pepper. At the moment, William Dampier
could be of little assistance in promoting the sale of
this interesting remedy ; but five years later, when he
had become acquainted with the President of the Royal
Society and other prominent people, we find George’s
medicine inserted in the 237th number of the Philo-
sophical Transactions. There is a grateful letter from
George to William (who was in London), dated “ Ex-
mouth, Feb. 2nd, 1697-8,” in which he thanks him for
having shown “ my letter and medicine for the bite of
a mad dog ” to a number of gentlemen, and magnani-
mously agrees that “ for the good of others I am free
that those worthy and incomparable ingenious gentle-
men may use their pleasure about it.” I am afraid that
this association can have done brother William little good
in the end.

It has been assumed ^ that Dampier made at least one

^ E.g. by Mr. Masefield and Sir Albert Gray.

MAKES A NAME IN ENGLAND 147

voyage on a merchant ship during this period of five
years after his return from the East. If he did so —
and we should expect it of his restless spirit — it is
surprising, to put it mildly, that so conscientious a
diarist should have left no kind of record behind. Yet
the evidence is at first sight irresistible. Towards the
end of his New Voyage^ in his brief account of the journey
home from Bencoolen, he remarks incidentally that on
one occasion he felt just such a wind from the shore as
he had also encountered “ as I lay at anchor at the Groin
in July i 6 g 4 ." Now “ The Groin ” was, of course, the
old name for Corunna. That sounds clear enough : he
was at Corunna in 1694 — ^three years after his home-
coming from the East.

But it is a curious coincidence that, in the manu-
script, the copyist has made a mistake in the date of his
departure from Bencoolen, which is given as “ January
25th, 1 694,” instead of 1 69 1 . Dampier has added some
of his marginal notes just here, but they do not correct
this mistake, which evidently escaped his attention. The
next date given in the manuscript (that of the departure
from St. Helena) is correct. The passage about Corunna
would come in between these two dates ; but it does
not, as a fact, appear in the manuscript, having been
interposed later with several other pages of additional
matter, for the purposes of the published book. It is,
therefore, a feasible theory that some copyist may have
added the year to the date of the Corunna incident,
copying it from the wrong date which he would see just
above in the manuscript. Against this is the fact that
the other mistake (in the date of the departure from
Bencoolen) was put right in the published book. But I
find it hard to believe that Dampier, whose voyages have
been described more fully than those of any other man
of his time, both by himself and by his enemies, succeeded
in sandwiching in this mysterious anonymous trip, as

WILLIAM DAMPIER

148

to which we have not a single other word from any
source whatever.^

I think that he just stayed quietly at home, resting
himself, until the spring of the year 1697. But he
would have to spend a good deal of time in London,
consulting his publisher, James Knapton. His book
was now on the stocks. The journal which he had
taken so much trouble to preserve, sealing it up in a
piece of hollow bamboo as he swam the rivers of the
Darien Peninsula, smuggling it out of the Bencoolen
Fort when all his other papers were left behind, drying
it over the fire on the beach at Nicobar, sitting up at
night on pirate ships and trading vessels to fill in the
day’s entry, was now to be turned into money at
last.

Probably he did not expect to make much out of it.
Of the two acquisitions which he brought home with
him from the East — all that he had to show for twelve
years’ endeavour — ^there is no doubt that he believed
Jeoly to be a far more valuable property than the journal.
Knapton must have known better. He did not hurry
with the printing, but that may be explained by the
fact, which Dampier himself admits, that the manuscript
was submitted to a number of the author’s friends for
their suggestions and corrections, before it was sent to
the press. Dampier’s enemies, at a later date, even
suggested that he did not write the book himself, and
at the beginning of his next book, the Voyage to New
Holland^ he goes out of his way to reply to this absurd
charge, arguing that “ the best and most eminent authors
are not ashamed ” to have their work “ revised and
corrected by friends.”

^ It is possible that he might have been at Corunna in 1691, as he
returned from the East ; for he mentions that his ship was temporarily
separated from her consorts in the Bay of Biscay by a storm, and Corunna
would be a convenient refuge from the weather.

MAKES A NAME IN ENGLAND

149

There was no need for such excuses : Dampier was
always the world’s worst controversialist. A comparison
between the original manuscript in the Sloane Collec-
tion ^ and the published book completely disposes of the
charge. It shows that Dampier himself did all the
revising and the correcting. The manuscript, as we
have seen, is covered with his marginal notes, most of
which, though not all, are incorporated in the book.
The other new matter in the book consists of natural
history notes from all parts of the world and some other
details of fact (such as the reference to Corunna) which
no one but Dampier himself could have added. It is
plain that his friends made no additions to the book :
they can only have advised as to what should be included
or omitted. It is also perfectly plain to any discerning
reader that the whole is written in Dampier’s own very
individual style.

But though his friends, whoever they were, cannot
have helped him much, a good deal of time would be
lost in passing the manuscript round among them, and
so the publication of the book was delayed till 1697.
When it did appear, it was an instantaneous success, and
ran into three editions within a few months. Dampier
woke up to find himself famous. He had dedicated his
great work to Charles Montague, the President of the
Royal Society ; but he evidently did not know his
patron personally at the time, for with his usual modesty
he apologized for “ the boldness of a stranger ” in
venturing to lay the book before him. It is unlikely
that he had any acquaintance among prominent people
at this stage.

But with the appearance of his book the scene changed
like magic, and the Dorsetshire farm can have seen very
little of him after this. Charles Montague took him
up, and it was, no doubt, on his recommendation that

^ No. 3236.

150

WILLIAM DAMPIER

in August, 1697, Dampier was given a post as a “ land-
carriage man ” in the Customs. The salary attached to
this post was only ;^8, 1 5s. a quarter, but that was a
sum not altogether contemptible in those days, and, what
was more valuable from Dampier’s point of view, he
was able to arrange for it to be paid to his wife during
his subsequent long absences from England. Thus the
long-neglected Judith was provided for. He was begin-
ning to be taken notice of in official circles, too. In
July, 1698, he was ordered to appear before the Council
of Trade and Plantations to be “ examined as to the
design of the Scotch East India Company to make a
settlement on the Isthmus of Darien ” under William
Paterson. Lionel Wafer was another witness, and the
two men were able to give the Council first-hand de-
scriptions of the country it was proposed to colonize.
Dampier, as we know, had “ golden dreams ” in his
head about the fortunes that might be made out of the
gold mines of Darien, if worked by slave labour ; but
apart from that it seems unlikely that the evidence of
himself and Wafer can have given the Council much
encouragement to persist with the scheme.

Other leading men in the scientific world who now
became Dampier’s friends were Sir Robert SouthwelH
and Sir Hans Sloane ^ ; and I think it must have been
about this time that the latter ordered the explorer’s
portrait to be painted by Thomas Murray. It hangs in
the National Portrait Gallery, and, as I have said, tells
us more about Dampier the man than could be obtained
from any bare record of his private life at the time. As
to that, we have only one piece of evidence of import-

^ Diplomatist and man of letters; President of the Royal Society from
1690 to 1695.

® The distinguished collector, patron of men of science and founder
of the British Museum. He became Secretary of the Royal Society in
1693, and succeeded Sir Isaac Newton as its President in 1727.

MAKES A NAME IN ENGLAND 151

ance — ^the invaluable entry in Evelyn’s Diary, under date
August 6th, 1698. I quote it in full :

“ I dined with Mr. Pepys, where was Captain Dampier,
who had been a famous buccaneer, had brought hither
the painted prince Job,^ and printed a relation of his
very strange adventures and his observations. He was
now going abroad again by the King’s encouragement,
who firrnished a ship of 290 tons. He seemed a more
modest man than one would imagine by relation of the
crew he had assorted with. He brought a map of his
observations of the course of the winds in the South
Seas, and assured us that the maps hitherto extant were
all false as to the Pacific Sea, which he makes on the
South of the line, that on the North end running by the
coast of Peru being extremely tempestuous.”

Evelyn did not forget this meeting. In his Numis-
mata : a Discourse of Medals, which was published in
the following year (1699), he makes the very proper
suggestion that among those “ famous and illustrious
persons ” whose heads might well appear upon medals
specially struck to commemorate their “ most signal
works and actions ” there should be included, under the
heading of “ Great Travellers,” the name of Captain
William Dampier. He rather spoils it, however, by
adding “ and the rest of the Buccaneers.” Still worse,
he thinks there might be a medal struck in memory of
that pathetic, but slightly ridiculous figure, Prince Jeoly.
As to Dampier’s criticism of the maps, it may be remarked
parenthetically that the word “ Pacific ” was then used
in a literal sense ; and Dampier was undoubtedly right
when he said that it was too flattering a description of
some parts of the South Seas.

The new voyage, which Dampier was about to under-

^ Jeoly.

WILLIAM DAMPIER

152

take “ by the King’s encouragement,” was, of course,
that of the “ Roebuck,” to be described in the next
chapter. It is to be observed that he had been given
this important appointment in the year following the
publication of his book. It was, in fact, the book —
not the voyages themselves — ^that had “ made ” him. He
might have wandered about the world for the rest of
his life, filling his journal with observations of the highest
importance for the futme of exploration, without attract-
ing any particular attention, if the great success of his
book had not forced him upon the notice of those in
authority. He had won fame not as a traveller, but as
a travel-writer.

Some perception of this may have come to him ; for
he instantly fell in with Knapton’s suggestion that he
should produce another volume. Before the “ Roebuck ”
was ready to sail in January, 1699, his Supplement to the
Voyage Round the Worlds together with the Voyage to
Campeachy and the Discourse on the Trade Winds (consti-
tuting the second volume of his Voyages)^ was already in
the printer’s hands. Unfortunately the printers had not
done with it when he sailed ; for he wrote from the
Downs to Lord Orford, First Lord of the Admiralty,
apologizing for not being able to send him a copy, and
explaining that “ the gentleman that I employed to
compile an Index [it is the weakest feature of the book]
has occasioned the delay.” I say “ unfortunately,”
because Dampier would have been gratified if he could
have witnessed the reception given to this book. It
probably did even more for his reputation among
educated and “ ingenious ” people than his first volume
had done.

Still, we find him now a man of reputation, his talents
widely recognized, his name familiar in every coffee-
house, and his authority as a geographer and hydro-
grapher accepted as it deserved to be. He is at last

MAKES A NAME IN ENGLAND 153

reaping the reward of all that conscientious note-taking
from the West Indies to Cochin China, and of all the
trouble he took to preserve his notes when written. In
a sense, indeed, this is the apex of his career, though his
greatest voyage of discovery — that of the “ Roebuck ”
to Australia — is yet to come. He is full of confidence.
He feels that he knows the oceans of the world as no
other living Englishman knows them. Since he left
that little grammar-school in Somerset on his career of
adventure, he has, with much labour, taught himself
everything that an explorer ought to know. He is now
forty-seven, and the time has come to prove it.

Alas ! there is just one thing he has forgotten to
learn — ^the habit of command. He does not yet realize
that his long association with the buccaneers in a
subordinate position (though that was by his own choice),
his long acquiescence in their slipshod ways and their
occasional brutal punishments in place of a proper
system of discipline, have bred in him unconsciously a
certain attitude of mind in regard to these matters,
which will prove more or less of a handicap for the rest
of his life, and will be one (though only one among
many) of the causes which, as we shall see in the next
chapter, placed the greatest prize of all just beyond his
reach.

CHAPTER IX

HE EXPLORES AUSTRALIA AND
NEW GUINEA

H HENEVER you hear Dampier de-
scribed as a failure or a might-have-
been ; damned with faint praise in
the Dictionary of National Biography ;
or denied even his right to a place in
the roll of “ Men of Action ” — ^he
who had gone abroad in his ’teens,
fought in the Royal Navy, served
with the buccaneers, and three times circumnavigated
the globe ! — ^whenever you hear this kind of criticism,
you will know that what the critic has in mind is the
voyage of H.M.S. “ Roebuck ” to Australia. Dampier’s
bitterest enemy cannot say that, as an explorer, he missed
any other chance in the whole of his career. But he
might have discovered Australia ; he might have antici-
pated Cook ; and the simple fact is that he did not.
How far it was his own fault, or the fault of the

Admiralty, or the fault of his cantankerous lieutenant
and backboneless crew is quite beside the point. An
explorer is judged on the additions he makes to the
map ; and while Dampier’s discoveries in Australia
were important, were sensational, in the year 1700, and
still rank as memorable achievements, they did not solve
the great problem which was waiting to be solved —
they did not disclose the Continent of Australia. It was
touch-and-go ; it might almost be said that a mere

explores AUSTRALIA AND NEW GUINEA 155

accident prevented him ; but accidents are the stuff of
which history is made.

In this chapter we shall see what in fact he did
accomplish, and shall be able to judge for ourselves of
the importance of a voyage of discovery which was
undoubtedly the greatest made by any Englishman for
over half a century ; and of the fairness of describing it
as a “ failure ” in the light of our much more recently
acquired knowledge of the things it just missed. We
have noted Dampier’s rather disappointing attitude
towards Australia, or New Holland, when he visited it
with Read’s buccaneers ; but he was then in uncon-
genial company, whose only object was to make money,
and the place itself and its inhabitants had impressed
him unfavourably. In the seclusion of his home in
Dorsetshire his ideas widened, and he began to see that
Read had missed a great opportunity. The position
and extent of the Terra Australis Incognita was a common
subject of conversation in England at that time. A
translation of Tasman’s journal, in which the gallant
Dutchman described his discovery of Tasmania, was
published in London in 1694. From passages in his
letters it is clear that Dampier realized as well as anyone
that Australia was probably a continent, and the more
he thought the matter over, the more plainly he saw
that here was the great opening for exploration. He
also, with prophetic insight, considered Australia “ a
country likely to contain gold.” He therefore put up
a proposal^ to the Admiralty to the effect that one of
the King’s ships should be fitted out to explore the coast
of New Holland. In this memorandum he observes
that, apart from Australia, “ there are several places
which might probably be visited with good advantage ” ;
but adds that “ there is no larger tract of land hitherto

^ Probably in response to the request of Lord Orfofd, the First Lord,
to whom Charles Montague had introduced him-

WILLIAM DAMPIER

156

undiscovered than the Terra Australis, if that vast space
surrounding the South Pole, and extending so far into
the warmer climate be a continued land, as a great deal
of it is known to be.”

Yet he still envisaged a voyage to Madagascar, and
from thence “ directly to the Northernmost part of New
Holland ” — ^in other words, to that same North-western
corner of the continent where he had already landed.
Perhaps he was still hankering after “ warm voyages,”
still remembering with a shudder the deadly cold of that
early trip of his to Newfoundland, when he had sworn
that he would never sail so far from the Equator again.
At any rate, better, wider ideas prevailed, and in the
spring of 1698, when he had been definitely commis-
sioned to undertake the voyage, he made up his mind
to sail round the Horn, and so fall in with Australia
on the east coast, and follow the coast northward along
it till he came to New Guinea. Had he done so, it is
hardly conceivable that he should have failed to realize
the extent of his discovery. Even with his crazy ship
and his half-hearted crew he must have got in before
Cook, and remade the map.

But delay followed delay, and the sailing in September
turned out to be as wild a dream as the gold mines of
Darien. He was continually being called up to London
to advise the Government. The Council of Trade and
Plantations wanted to know^ whether he had heard of
any proposals or bribes offered to Lionel Wafer by the
Scotch East India Company. He replied (in July, 1 698)
that he had not, and added that W^afer would be in-
capable of doing the Scotch East India Company any
great service. On September 27th, on the principle
of setting a thief to catch a thief, he was called in again
to advise about fitting out a squadron against the pirates

Calendar of State. Papirs. Colonial Series. (America and the West
Indies.)

EXPLORES AUSTRALIA AND NEW GUINEA 157

“ to the East of the Cape of Good Hope.” Again he is
asked on the 26th how long a ship might be “ running
from England to Madagascar at this time of year.” He
replies at length, giving three and a half months as the
best possible time.

But these were minor delays. The real trouble was
with the ship, the crew, the stores, and so forth. As
early as March a 5th — so pleased was Lord Orford with
the idea of this voyage of exploration — ^Dampier had
been appointed to command the “Jolly Prize,” “when
fitted out ” ; but at the beginning of July he reported
that the “ Jolly Prize ” was “ altogether unfit for the
designed voyage.” After a considerable pause, he was
given another vessel, the “ Roebuck,” a King’s ship
carrying twelve guns and a crew of fifty men and boys,
and provisioned for twenty months. She was a fifth-
rater, almost certainly of two decks, and had previously
been a fireship. She was then at Deptford, and did
not leave till October 6th ; and on the 1 3th, as she lay
at Tilbury, she got into collision with the “ Isabella
Pink ” and damaged her head and sprit topmast.

She finally anchored in the Downs on the 22nd and
Dampier went down there to see to her fitting-out. He
was disappointed at the smallness of his crew, and says
so in one of his letters to Lord Orford. The following
officers were engaged : Jacob Hughes, master ; George
Fisher, lieutenant ; Philip Paine, gunner ; R. Chadwick
and John Knight, mates. The doctor and the captain’s
clerk were “ two Scotch dogs,” ^ named William
Borthwick and James Brand. Further delays took place
over the appointment of a boatswain, and when Dampier
at last engaged a suitable man, there were violent
quarrels, as we shall see, between the bo’sun and the
lieutenant.

^ Lieut. Fisher’s name for them, as stated by John Rumbold in evidence
before the court-martial.

WILLIAM DAMPIER

158

About November 2 ist Dampier wrote to Lord Orford,
setting forth “ what I would propose to have put into
my instructions ” — ^which shows that he really drew up
the instructions himself. He explains that it is now
too late in the year to go round the Horn,^ and he
would therefore have to sail via the Cape of Good Hope.
He asks that a small gratuity or even a “ promise of
somewhat at our return ” may be offered to his men to
keep them cheerful, and inspire them with “ a generous
resolution of hazarding their persons.” He hopes their
lordships will not think him “ too bold ” in asking for
all this ; he is still “ much a stranger to his Majesty’s
service,” and may have erred in etiquette.

On November 30th came his formal instructions from
the Admiralty, directing him to proceed to the Cape,
“ and from thence to stretch away towards New Holland.”
They gave him permission “ to steer any other course ”
if he saw fit ; but reminded him that the expedition
was an expensive one, and that he must “ take a special
care ” to use his best endeavour to make some discovery
of value. He is only to bring home natives (as he had
suggested) “provided they shall be willing to come
along.” A vague promise is made to the men “ that
such of them as shall behave themselves well and cheer-
fully perform their duty in this affaire, which ’tis hoped
may tend to the advantage of the nation, shall at their
return receive all fitting reward and encouragement.”

So the idea of an early start in September and a
voyage round Cape Horn was already abandoned. And
already the internal squabbles which were to act as a
powerful brake on the expedition, and in which George
Fisher was the leading spirit, had made their appearance
on board. Fisher’s complaints may be studied in detail
in the evidence which he gave before the court-martial,

^ So kte a start would mean that he would be rounding the “ Cape of
Storms ” in the very depth of the winter.

EXPLORES AUSTRALIA AND NEW GUINEA 159

which was held after Dampier returned to England. It
will be more convenient here to take them chrono-
logically, mentioning each “ incident ” as it occurred in
the course of the voyage. Fisher was obviously looking
for trouble from the day he joined the ship ; for in
giving his evidence he is so particular in his dates that
we can only conclude that he must have kept a note-book
for the purpose. To mention each of his complaints
may seem like giving undue prominence to petty
grievances ; but they have an historical value in the
light which they throw, not only on Dampier, but on
life on shipboard at the end of the seventeenth century.

Obviously the root of the trouble between Dampier
and Fisher was the captain’s somewhat shady past.
Dampier was an ex-buccaneer, Fisher a regular officer of
the King’s Navy. It is true that he only joined as a
volunteer in 1689 (he served with some distinction in
William’s fleet at the relief of Londonderry), but, as
so often happens in these cases, he was more forward
to assert the dignity of the service than any grey-
haired martinet. The first “ incident ” occurred on
November ist. The flagship of Sir Clowdisley Shovell ^
had appeared in the Downs, and it behoved all the
King’s ships there to mind their p’s and q’s. Fisher
was called on board the flagship, and there found
Dampier, who, according to his story, took him aside,
and said that while he (Fisher) had been ashore “ there
was like to have been a mutiny on board the ‘ Roebuck,’
for that James Grigson and T. Knight had been drinking
with the Boatswaine in his cabin, and was overheard by
the Master to swear that when they came to Sea they
would heave the Master overboard and run away with
the King’s ship.” Dampier is alleged to have added

Appointed Admiral of the Blue, 1696. He was also Comptroller
of Victualling at this time. In 1705 he was made commander-in-chief
of the Fleet.

WILLIAM DAMPIER

160

that he “ did not like the Boatswaine *’ and to have
“ demanded Fisher’s advice in the case.”

It would not be unnatural that he, who in his own
words was still “ much a stranger to his Majesty’s
service,” should have discussed the matter with a regular
officer. If so, his confidence was ill-rewarded. Fisher
says he merely advised Dampier to tell the Admiral
about it, and he complains that Dampier did nothing of
the kind — ^which again we can well understand. On
November 5th Captain Jumper and Captain Cleasbie,
Sir Clowdisley Shovell’s secretary, came on board the
“ Roebuck ” “ to see if our crew were seamen ” — in
other words to inspect. Fisher, as they arrived, “ com-
manded the Boatswaine to order the Pinnace astern out
of their way, but he answered with an Oath that he
would not obey his commands when the Captain was
on board,” So that Jumper and Cleasbie had to climb
over the pinnace to get on board the “ Roebuck ” — a
very undignified proceeding. Fisher complained to
Dampier of the bo’sun’s conduct, and he did it, char-
acteristically enough, in the presence of the two visiting
captains. Dampier, according to him, was “ told by
them that he ought to see that Fisher should be protected
in his commands.” They also “ reprimanded the
Boatswaine ” — n piece of interference which I imagine
no captain would tolerate nowadays.

All this, it should be noted, is taken from Fisher’s
own account of events. Dampier, who had obviously
forgotten all dates and details, replied at the court-
martial only in the vaguest terms. He was, as I have
said, the world’s worst controversialist. His idea of an
answer to this rigmarole was to tell the court-martial
that “ when the ship lay in the Downs,” Fisher, in
conversation with the gunner, said, “ Damn him for an
old rogue, he minds nothing ” — ^meaning Dampier. He
also says that on some other unspecified date, Fisher

EXPLORES AUSTRALIA AND NEW GUINEA i6i

was heard by the doctor, the purser and Brand (one of the
“ Scotch dogs”) to speak disrespectfully of the Lords of
the Admiralty, and “ was reproved for it by the Captain.”
It is hard to say which story is the less convincing.

But in the Master’s Log, kept by Hughes, there is a
reference which throws new light on the incident.^
Evidently there was some kind of “ trial ” or inquiry
into the quarrel between Fisher and the boatswain ; for
on November 21,“ the order came ” that “ our lieutenant
and boatswain and a woman ” should be transferred to
another ship, the “ Messenger,” and on the following
day “ they went for Chatham in order for a tryall.” So
there was a woman in the case ! Fisher, in his evidence
before the court-martial, might not be anxious to recall
this aspect of the dispute ; but it is extraordinary that
the other side did not do so. Hughes, who kept the log,
was actually a witness for Dampier. In fact, Dampier’s
defence seems to have been grossly mismanaged.

To return to Fisher’s version, on November 12th he
“ moved the Captain to punish James Grigson, still
finding him a refractory and dangerous fellow ” ; and
Dampier reluctantly agreed that Grigson should be
“ made fast to the gangway.” After an hour of this,
he was, in Fisher’s words, “ set loose without any punish-
ment,” whereupon Fisher complained to Dampier that
this was “ an ill example.” We can understand that
about this time the easy-going Captain felt his affection
for his lieutenant sensibly cooling. To have done with
this particular grievance of Fisher’s, on December 6 th
he went on board the flagship, and after telling his
troubles to a group of officers, actually appealed to the
crew for volunteers to replace Grigson and Knight.
Dampier, of course, refused to accept them. The
wonder is that he did not immediately turn Fisher out
of his ship, and it would have been better for his reputa-

^ The Master’s Log of the “ Roebucic ” is in the Public Record Office.

t62 WILLIAM DAMPIER

tion (having already missed the great opportunity of his
lifetime through these delays) if he had done so, and had
waited for a new lieutenant.

However, such delays as these, vexatious as they were,
could not continue for ever. Very early on the morning
of Saturday, January 14th, the “ Roebuck ” sailed from
the Downs with a fair wind, loaded with her twenty-
months’ provisions. At noon they were off Dungeness.
Next morning they found themselves, with a number of
other English ships, “ nearer to the French coast than
we expected.” The master, Hughes, was “ somewhat
troubled at this discovery ” ; but Dampier explains that
it was a very common mistake in those days, and “ fatal
to many ships.” The occasion of it, he says, “ is not
allowing for the change of the Variations since the making
of the Charts, which Captain Hally ^ has observed to be
very considerable.” Dampier was familiar with Halley’s
work, and explained the situation to Hughes. On the
19th they sighted Cape Finisterre, and on the 28th
“ Lancerota ” (Lanzerote) of the Canary Islands.

On that day there was more trouble with Fisher. His
own account is that he was “ walking on the Deck with
the Captaine and the Captaine’s Clerk ” when “ 3 Drops
of Blood fell from his Nose on his hand.” He immedi-
ately fainted ! Being taken to his cabin and bled, he
felt a bit better, and in the middle of the night summoned
the chief mate, and asked him about the vessel’s course.
To his horror he discovered that they were heading
straight for the island of “ Algoranca ” (Alegranze), and
that the Captain was apparently unaware of the fact,
since no look-out was being kept. He instantly advised
that they should shorten sail. Dampier’s own account
mentions simply that they sighted Alegranze, as expected,
and that he took “ sights ” of the island at two different

^ E. Halley (1656-1742), astronomer, discoverer of Halley’s Comet,
author of the General Chart of the Variations.

EXPLORES AUSTRALIA AND NEW GUINEA 163

bearings and distances. He had, of course, already
forgotten more about navigation than Fisher would ever
know. At the court-martial he added one other incident
of this day — namely that the Lieutenant had insisted
on going to sleep with all his bedding in the pinnace,
which “ lay on the boomes,” and that when Dampier
spoke to him about it, reminding him that it was against
orders, he “ bent his fist and held it to his nose and said
he did not care a for him.”

On January 30th they put into Santa Cruz, TenerifFe,
“ to take in some wine and brandy for my voyage,”
says Dampier. The Captain went ashore, and saw the
Spanish Governor, and was invited to dine with him
next day. On the following morning he started out,
accompanied by the doctor and the purser (but not the
lieutenant), on a typical tourist trip to Laguna, the
principal town, which was some miles inland, so that
there was only just time to get back for the Governor’s
dinner-party. It was a hot and dusty journey, and
longer than they expected. But there were “ publick
houses scattering by the way-side, where we got some
wine,” and perhaps that kept them back. At any rate,
their thirst was unquenched, for when they reached
Laguna they were “ glad to refresh themselves with a
little wine in a soriy Tipling-house.” In the course of
some characteristic notes upon the island’s resources,
Dampier remarks that “ the true Malpisey Wine grows
on this island ; and this here is said to be the best of
its kind in the World.” There is “ also Canary Wine,
and Verdona, or Green-wine.” As I have said, they
were due to dine with the Governor of Santa Cruz ;
” but staying so long at Laguna I came but time enough
to sup with him.” However he was “ a civil discreet
man,” and perhaps he did not ask too many questions
about the cause of their delay. The Governor visited
the “ Roebuck ” next morning in return ; “ but he was

WILLIAM DAMPIER

164

presently sea-sick, and so much out of order that he
could scarce eat or drink anything, but went quickly
ashore again.”

There were other English ships in harbour besides
the “ Roebuck,” and the commander of one of these.
Captain Travers, of the “ Experiment ” galley, came to
visit Dampier on the day the “ Roebuck ” arrived. His
visit was the occasion of yet another scene with Fisher.
Travers asked for beer — apparently it was the first word
he uttered as he stepped on board — and Dampier told
Fisher to see about it. But the purser (who was respon-
sible for the beer) happened to meet the man who was
going to break in the butt, and understanding that it
was % Fisher’s orders “ threatened to break his head ”
instead. Again Fisher complained to his Captain, and
again in the presence of the other Captain, who tact-
lessly “ seconded him,” and according to his account
said to Dampier, “ If you suffer your Lieutenant to be
thus used it may be of ill consequence in your voyage.”
Again Dampier does nothing. Next day, however, he
heard that Fisher had been thrashing a midshipman
named Barnaby (a youth he had already been accused
of bullying), and indignantly rebuked him. As Fisher
left his captain, he swears that Dampier’s clerk, his
special enemy, “ whispered Fisher to cane Barnaby,
which if he had done, Fisher perceiving their intent was
to draw and run him through in the scuffle ” — a singu-
larly unconvincing story of a murder plot. But Fisher
now believed his life to be in danger. He told the
court-martial that, before leaving Santa Cruz, Dampier
took on board a Spanish assassin, whom he had hired
for the express purpose of murdering his subordinate,
but set him ashore again when he saw that Fisher’s
suspicions were aroused. It is astonishing to think of
Sir Clowdisley Shovell and the other members of the
Court listening gravely to stuff like this.

EXPLORES AUSTRALIA AND NEW GUINEA 165

From Santa Cruz they set a course for the island of
Mayo, of the Cape Verde group, which Dampier knew
of old, getting into harbour there on February iith.
Here Dampier laid his plans for the remainder of the
voyage. Before attempting to round the Cape, he
“ thought it requisite to touch once more at a cultivated
place in these seas, where my men might be refreshed.”
He had no hardy crew of buccaneers with him, as on
the occasion of his last visit to the island of Mayo.
With these new men, he aimed at “ inuring them
gradually and by intervals to the fatigues that were to
be expected in the remainder of the voyage, which was
to be in a part of the world they were altogether strangers
to.” He decided upon Pernambuco in Brazil as a suit-
able port of call, and left St. lago, in the Cape Verde
Islands, for that destination on February 22nd. Fisher
alleges that in getting to St. lago from Mayo the Captain
completely lost his way, and that he (Fisher), “ Hearing
the men cry out Land ! ” rushed on deck and asked
Dampier what he meant to do. ‘‘ He answered (as if
crying) he did not know what the master designed.”
Whereupon Fisher, knowing the master to be drunk at
the moment, took charge of the helm, and with great
address managed to save the ship ! The Master’s Log,
however, makes it a perfectly normal landfall.

They ha'd now a month’s voyage ahead of them to
the coast of Brazil, and it was not to be a pleasant one.
The “ atmosphere ” on board grew worse and worse.
Dampier says that “ the ignorance and obstinacy of some
under me,” who would never trust his ability as a pilot,
“ occasioned me a great deal of trouble.” They all
thought “ we should never be able to weather Cape St.
Augustin,” and became discontented and surly, though
Dampier assured them that the “ calms and shiftings of
wind ” which were the cause of their fear were but to
be expected in crossing the Line. His assurances that

i66

WILLIAM DAMPIER

all was well were doubted. “ They would not believe it
till they found it so.”

Meantime Fisher describes a little scene among the
officers in the cabin, which seems hardly to have been
worth the attention of a court-martial, but undoubtedly
gives the modern reader a delightfully intimate picture
of their lives — a glimpse right into the heart of the
period. One afternoon as the ship slips gently south-
ward, Fisher gets a message from the Captain, asking
him civilly whether he would like to “ clubb for a bowl
of punch.” He agrees, and they assemble in the cabin
round the flowing bowl. Tongues are loosened. The
Captain is no drunkard, but after all he has sailed with
the buccaneers ; and presently, amid the general chatter,
he is heard saying something to the effect that “ had he
commanded one of the King’s ships in the late Warr,
all French men he took in Privateers he would have
tyed back to back and thrown overboard, adding all the
King’s Captaines were fools they did not do it.”

Fisher professes to have been horrified. To the
Captain’s face he said it was “ a very cruell thought,”
and even the doctor (Scotch dog though he was) declared
it to be “ barbarously intended.” But Dampier retorted
that “ it would have made a quick end or the war.” ^
Fisher then introduced the somewhat delicate topic of
pirates, beginning to say that “ if all nations would give
no protection to Pirates, but hang them as soon as
taken, it would be of good service.” The Captain cut
in with a demand to know “ what he meant by Pirates ? ”
to which the lieutenant answered cautiously, “ Such as
Everye (Avery) ^ and his men.” Whereupon Dampier,
no doubt a little elevated by the punch, “ swore if he

^ There is something ver7 modem about this discussion after all.

® The celebrated freebooter, known as the “ Grand Pirate,” whose
exploits in Madagascar are introduced hy Defoe into the story of Captain
Singleton.

EXPLORES AUSTRALIA AND NEW GUINEA 167

meet with any of them he would not hurt them, not a
hair of their heads.” If he could have seen Fisher
copying it all down in his note-book a few moments
later, he might have been less free with his talk. The
note-book must have been getting almost full by now,
for Fisher records many more disputes — quarrels between
himself and the purser, and so forth.

“ It was the tenth day of March, about the time of
the Equinox, when we crossed the Equator,” says
Dampier. He gives his usual full notes of the winds,
and of “ a great swell out of the S.E.,” and of “ small
uncertain gales ” with rain ; and remarks that he was
troubled by the carelessness of his men in lying down
in their hammocks in their wet clothes. On such occa-
sions he would give them a dram of brandy, and order
them to change their clothes. They always took the
brandy, but they seldom or never changed. Apart from
this there was a “ refractoriness of some under me ”
and “ discontents and backwardness of some of my
men ” which in the end led him to drop the idea of
Pernambuco, and make for Bahia de Todos os Santos
instead. For at Pernambuco ships had to anchor two
or three leagues from the shore, whereas at Bahia the
civil authorities were near at hand to help him in the
event of mutiny.

Mutiny was now a real possibility ; the Fisher comedy
had passed from the stage of farce to that of melodrama.
Once again the casus belli was a barrel of beer. On the
very day that they crossed the Equator, the cook came
to Fisher and complained that “ it was three in the
afternoon and they had no beer.” Thereupon Fisher,
on his own responsibility, ordered the cooper to broach
a new cask, without informing either captain or purser.
Dampier summoned Fisher and the cooper to the quarter-
deck. He fairly lost his temper. According to Fisher,
he first thrashed the cooper, and then fell upon the

i68

WILLIAM DAMPIER

lieutenant with his cane, and “ caned him to the fore-
castle and confined him to the cabin.” According to
Dampier, Fisher, when spoken to, “ called the Captain
names softly, and urged the Captain to strike him, then
he loudly called him a great many ill names, as old
Rogue, old Dog, old Cheat, and endeavoured to stir up
the seamen to a mutiny, by telling them that the Captain
knew not whither he was going, that he was no artist,
that he knew nothing, but was a mere theaf, and when
he would not be silent was at last confined to his cabin.”
From his cabin, Fisher continued to shout abuse, bawling
out that he knew the Captain intended to run away
wiA the ship and “ turn pirate ” — ^until they put him
in irons.

The situation was a grave one. They were a fortnight
out from St. lago, and could not expect to sight their
Brazilian port for another two weeks. Dampier’s
officers, “ such as I could trust,” advised him to sleep
on the quarter-deck for safety ; and on the 1 8th he had
all the small arms brought up there and the gun-room
door locked. He also ordered the arrest of three men
suspected of being ringleaders in the trouble. One of
them gave evidence implicating Fisher, but not to any
serious extent, and Dampier’s next move in the matter
must be put down less to any immediate fear of mutiny
than to a determination to get Fisher off the ship at all
costs. On the 23rd they sighted Brazil, and coasted
southwards to Bahia de Todos os Santos, which they
reached at midnight of the 24th. A Portuguese vessel
piloted them in, and when they anchored, although it
^s so late, the Portuguese skipper came on board the
Roebuck to welcome them. ** Indeed,” says Dampier
(who seems to have modified his old opinion ^ of the
Portuguese), “ I found much respect, not only from this
gentleman, but from all of that nation, both here and
^ Which he had formed in the East,

EXPLORES AUSTRALIA AND NEW GUINEA 169

in other places, who were ready to serve me on all
occasions.”

On the following day, Dampier got in touch with the
Portuguese Governor, and on the 28th he sent Fisher
ashore. He says that Fisher himself clamoured for
this to be done, desiring to return to England via
Portugal. Fisher says that he was amazed at it ; further,
that he was sent ashore in irons like a malefactor, and
thrown into the common jail among a lot of “ negroes
and mulattos,” and that Dampier, in spite of his urgent
messages, did nothing to get his condition improved
before the ship sailed.^ Here we say good-bye to this
troublesome person — for the moment. His Captain’s
treatment of him at Bahia was the one really serious
charge put forward at the court-martial — and the only
one that seems to have the ring of truth.

In the meantime Dampier was calmly using his
month’s stay at the Portuguese port to write a wonder-
fully full account of the place and of the surrounding
country. He enumerates the principal public buildings
in the town, describes the domestic architecture, the
strength of the garrison and the shipping in the harljour.
There were thirty “ great ships ” from different parts
of Europe, but the “ Roebuck ” was the first English
ship for eleven or twelve years. He gives us some street
scenes. The wealthy merchants (one of them was an
Englishman, Mr. Cock) were carried about in hammocks,
slung on stout bamboo which negro slaves bore upon
their shoulders. There were so many slaves that
Dampier says “ they make up the greater part or bulk
of the inhabitants.” They “ will easily be engaged to
do any sort of mischief,” and rather specialized in
murdering sailors, so that Dampier was very chary in

^ He was kept in jail at Bahia till July 4th and was then sent to Lisbon
on a Portuguese ship. At Lisbon the authorities released him and he
crossed to England in December 1699,

WILLIAM DAMPIER

170

giving his men shore leave. He describes the cotton-
fields and other forms of agriculture, and then comes to
a list of animals and birds — a favourite subject of his —
illustrating his remarks with some delightfully life-like
drawings. There is a particularly spirited description
of the great snakes, especially of the anaconda, which
lives in pools and “ flourishes its tail ” out of the water
to lasso passers-by. Dampier met an Irishman in
Bahia who told him that his father had been caught in
this way, and dragged head first into the pool to be
swallowed by the monster.

Dampier also used the opportunity of his month’s stay
in Bahia “ to allay in some measure the ferment that
had been raised among my men.” He found their heads
still “ filled with strange notions of Southerly winds that
were now setting in (and there had been already some
flurries of them) which, as they surmised, would hinder
any further attempts of going on to the southward . . .
though I told them they were to look for them.” Some
of the officers were just as bad, and “ very listless to the
getting things in a readiness for our departure.”

But at last it was done. The beer barrels — cause of
so many disputes, but now void of beer — ^were sent
ashore and filled with water. Oranges, rum and sugar
were taken on board, and on the 23 rd April the “ Roe-
buck ” weighed anchor and put to sea. The weather
was fair, in spite of those occasional “ flurries ” from
the South. In a few weeks they began to meet westerly
winds, “ which did not leave us till a little before we
made the Cape ” — ^yet without apparently convincing
the malcontents that their Captain knew what he was
about. Dampier could never be quite certain of his
position on this voyage, for he “ had not a good glass
in the ship, beside the half-watch or two-hour glasses.”
The “ half-minute glasses,” used at the heaving of the
log, were equally unreliable. As Dampier remarks —

EXPLORES AUSTRALIA AND NEW GUINEA 171

mildly enough in the circumstances — “ a ship ought to
have its glasses very exact.” Especially, he might have
added, when it has been fitted out by the Admiralty for
an important voyage of exploration in uncharted seas !
But in those days sailors were accustomed to seek their
bunks at night with so little idea of where they would
find themselves in the morning that to us the marvel is
that there were not even more wrecks than actually
occurred.

Dampier says that “ another thing that stumbled me
there was the Variation.” This is one of his favourite
topics, and the occasion of some of his best and most
helpful work as a writer on navigation. He found the
variation at the Cape more than it was thirty leagues
east of it, whereas it should have been less. “ These
things, I confess, did puzzle me ” — indeed were “ most
shocking to me.” “ Neither was I fully satisfied as to
the exactness of the taking of the Variation at Sea : for
in a great sea, which we often met with, the compass
will traverse with the motion of the ship ; besides the
Ship may and will deviate somewhat in steering, even
by the best helmsmen.” To make the nature of his
troubles clearer, he appends an elaborate table of varia-
tions, with dates — observing modestly that he considers
himself incompetent to advance theories of his own, and
therefore merely states the facts, for Halley and others
to make use of.

They sighted the Cape, and left it below the horizon
on June 6th. On that evening the Captain stood on
his quarter-deck admiring the sunset. “ As the Sun
drew near the horizon, the clouds were gilded very
prettily to the eye, though at the same time my mind
dreaded the consequences of it.” At midnight they had
“ a pale whitish glare in the N.W.” — another bad sign —
and at 2 a.m. it was blowing a gale. But the “ Roe-
buck,” though a crazy craft, “ steered incomparably

WILLIAM DAMPIER

173

well,” and on the 19th the gale abated. On the 25th
they saw a large number of fish and birds, which made
them think they must be near land, and on the 30th
more of them, so that at midnight they sounded, and
“ had forty-five fathoms, coarse sand and small white
shells.” Next day they saw Australia, and coasted
along it, looking for a nice sheltered bay.^ On August
6th, in the morning, Dampier spotted a promising
opening in the land, and nosed his way in, the ship’s
boat going ahead with the lead, and sounding. Dampier
called the mouth of this great sound (for such it turned
out to be) “ Shark’s Bay,” on account of the number of
sharks they saw in the water. It has retained the name
to this day — and I understand that the bathing is still
regarded as dangerous !

He appears to have anchored in the bay now named
after him, to the north-east of the Peron Peninsula. He
went ashore with some of his men, “ with pickaxes and
shovels,” to dig for water, but found none. This was
a vexation, for their barrels were nearly empty. Other-
wise the appearance of the land was attractive, with
many fragrant trees and shrubs, and “ some very small
flowers growing on the ground that were sweet and
beautiful, and for the most part unlike any I had seen
elsewhere.” Among the animals he noted “ a sort of
raccoons, different from those of the West Indies, chiefly
as to their legs, for these have very short fore-legs, but
go jumping upon them as the others do (and like them
are very good meat).” This has been taken as an early
description of the kangaroo, but as Mr. Masefield
suggests, it is more likely to refer to the kangaroo-rat,
which is fairly common in those parts. The shore was
lined thick with “ very strange and beautiful shells,” of
which Dampier immediately made a collection, but subse-

^ Hughes, the master, could perceire “ neither trees nor bushes ” on
the land, which “ promises very barren.”

EXPLORES AUSTRALIA AND NEW GUINEA 173

quently lost it. They caught turtle ; and sharks, too,
which “ our men eat very savourily.” In one shark’s
stomach they found the head of a hippopotamus — and
that too they ate ! On August nth they ventured
farther into the bay, narrowly avoiding many shoals,
and still without any luck in the matter of fresh
water.

Two days later Dampier gave it up. Leaving Shark’s
Bay, he began to feel his way northward along the
coast. Had he turned south at this point, two or three
days’ sail would have brought him to the site of the
modern Port Gregory, and another two days to Perth
and Fremantle. It is a tantalizing reflection ; but we
have to remember that his instructions were to go north.
He doubted, too, whether his “ heartless ” men would
have been able to stand the “ winter weather ” which
they must have met with in the south ; and he, for his
own part, confesses that he “ was not for spending my
time more than was necessary in the higher latitudes,
as knowing that the land there could not be so well
worth the discovering as the parts that lay nearer the
Line and more directly under the Sun.” Here is the
“ warm voyage ” complex again. That early trip to
Newfoundland had a lot to answer for.

On the 21st they found themselves among a group of
islands which must have been those now called the
Dampier Archipelago. Our navigator here hazards the
guess that “ from what he saw of the tides ” there might
be a passage hereabouts right through New Holland to
the South Seas, and adds that he thought seriously of
attempting it after his return from New Guinea, whither
he was now bound, according to plan. He was only
drawing a bow at a venture, of course ; but this theory
of Australian geography had its supporters in Europe
for many years afterwards. At the moment it was not
practical politics to pursue the matter. There was an

WILLIAM DAMPIER

174

instant and urgent need of water. The sun blazed down
upon them ; “ the rocks looked of a rusty yellow colour
and I despaired of getting water on any of them.”
Again he went personally on shore with the shovel and
pick party. No good ! On the 23 rd he left the islands,
still with “ fair clear weather,” and continued his search
along the mainland. Hughes notes “ an abundance of
small flies which annoyed our people very much in
tickling their faces and buzzing about their ears.”

A week later, while ten or eleven men were on shore,
digging for water under the supervision of their com-
mander, groups of blacks appeared, and began to make
hostile demonstrations. At last Dampier took two men
with him, and, leaving the rest digging (with their
weapons close at hand), walked casually along the beach.
His idea was to lure the blacks to follow him, so that he
might seize one of them, and endeavour through him
to establish friendly relations and get some information
about water. Nothing, in fact, could be more eloquent
of the courage of English seamen of those days and of
the contempt in which they held the “ native.” Dampier ’s
device succeeded. The farther he got from the rest of
his men, the more the aborigines crowded upon him,
and the more truculent became their demeanour. When
they were quite close, Dampier and his two companions
suddenly dashed at them. He observes “ We could
easily outrun them ” : I rather wonder if that would be
true to-day.

The blacks fled. But as Dampier was just about to
grasp his quarry, he glanced over his shoulder, and saw
that a number of the fugitives had turned at bay, and
were fiercely assailing one of his companions with their
“ wooden lances.” The young sailor, who was thus
attacked, defended himself with his cutlass, but the
blacks were all round him. Dampier, coming up, began
firing his musket over their heads to frighten them. It

EXPLORES AUSTRALIA AND NEW GUINEA 175

did, at first, but seeing that no harm was done, they
“ soon learnt to despise it, tossing up their hands and
crying ‘ Pooh ! Pooh ! Pooh ! ’ ” To save his fol-
lower, who was wounded in the face by a lance, Dampier
then shot one of them down ; whereupon the rest drew
off, and the Englishmen retired to their main body,
Dampier very gloomy, and “ sorry for what had hap-
pened.” He observes once again that the Australian
aborigines “ have the most unpleasant looks and the
worst features of any people that ever I saw, though I
have seen great variety of savages.” In fact, he finds
them “ the same blinking creatures ” described in
Chapter VII.

So the unfruitful search went on. They found “ a
little brackish water ” — no more. They also met the
dingo — “ 2 or 3 beasts like hungry wolves, lean like so
many skeletons, being nothing but Skin and Bone.” It
was now the beginning of September, and the men were
“ growing scorbutic ” for lack of water and fresh food.
They were in the modern slang term “ fed up ” with
Australia. “ If it were not,” says Dampier, “ for that
sort of pleasure which results from the Discovery even
of the barrenest spot upon the Globe, this coast of New
Holland would not have charmed me much.” It is
clear that he fully intended to come back and have
another shot at it ; he explains that he “ thought to
come round by the south of Terra Australis in my return
back which would be in the Summer season there,”
But in the meantime he could not see his men die of
thirst. He therefore drew off from the land, and set
his course for the island of Timor. And so he bade
farewell to Australia.

The curious thing is that, though there was every
practical reason for his decision, he seems to have been
dimly aware that he was making a mistake. He hung
about the coast as though reluctant to leave. He

WILLIAM DAMPIER

176

writes : “ This large and hitherto almost unknown tract
of land is situated so very advantageously in the richest
climates of the world . . . that in. coasting round it,
which I designed by this voyage if -possible, I could not
but hope to meet with some fruitful lands, Continent or
Island, or both.” Alas, though he did not know it, it
was now too late. But this much, at least, may be said,
that he had already left his mark upon the map. Nothing
more was discovered of the western and north-western
coasts of Australia until a hundred years after Dampier’s
death.

I do not propose to describe the rest of his voyage in
detail. There is no controversy about it ; we have no
record but his own, and the Master’s Log. He steered
for the island of Timor, on his way to New Guinea,
where he expected to make some important discoveries —
and he was not disappointed. After a rather doubtful
reception from the Dutch authorities at Fort Concordia
on Timor ^ (they had recently sulFered at the hands of a
French privateer, and mistook the “ Roebuck ” for one
of the same kidney), he “jogged on ” from island to
island, taking in fresh food and water, which soon
restored his men to health. Returning to Timor, he
repaired his ship’s sides, which, owing to the “ ignor-
ance and waste ” of his carpenter were in a deplorable
state for want of pitch. On the 4th and 5th of November,
they fired a number of guns “ in honour of King William
and in memory of the Deliverance from the Powder
Plot ” — ^which so much alarmed the Dutch in Fort Con-
cordia that they sent to find out what it was all about.
Everything was explained, and Anglo-Dutch relations
now became pleasanter. Dampier even dined with the
Governor. But he knew that the Dutch in their hearts
were “ enemies to all Europeans but such as are under

^ The date of the arrival at Timor (September 22nd) is given only in
the Master’s Log, which is very usefnl about here.

EXPLORES AUSTRALIA AND NEW GUINEA 177

their own Government,” and he was glad to get away
north again towards New Guinea.

On January ist, 1700, the southern coast of New
Guinea came in sight — z “ pleasant prospect ” with “ tall
flourishing trees ” and “ very green.” They began to
coast round the island towards the west, with the inten-
tion of investigating its northern shores. Dampier was
particularly anxious to get in touch with the natives ;
but though two large canoes came off, and there was
much futile shouting and making of signs between the
two parties, neither could make the other understand,
and the natives presently returned to the beach. Dampier
himself followed them in a boat, and though he could
see hundreds of them “ lying in ambush behind the
bushes,” he approached close enough to throw some
” knives and other toys ” ashore. This did the trick.
The natives emerged from their hiding-places, casting
aside their weapons, and soon the deck of the “ Roebuck ”
was like a market-place, “ roots and fruits ” being
bartered for “ toys ” and brandy. Rounding the north-
western end of New Guinea, Dampier picked out one
of the most attractive looking islands of the Waiang
group, and went ashore there, and named it after King
William, solemnly drinking his Majesty’s health.

He then turned east along the northern coast of New
Guinea, naming Little Providence and other islands —
in fact the map is very largely his about here. The
natives were more “ difficult ” than ever. At one place
they began to stone the ship, using powerful slings for
the purpose, so that Dampier, generally so patient with
them, was provoked into firing a shot which wounded
several. At Antony Caen’s island, “ the bays were
covered with men going along as we sailed.” Many
tried to swim off to the ship, but were left astern.
Others followed in dug-outs. Yet only three were brave
enough to come on board ! Hughes describes the

WILLIAM DAMPIER

178

natives as “lusty, raw-boned men,” with their bodies
painted in “ several colours ” ; but “ the chiefest thing
I admired was their having large holes through their
noses, having through them crabs’ claws, white shells
and painted shells, which made them look very gashly.”

Steering over to the mainland again, Dampier at first
supposed himself to be still off the coast of New Guinea,
as all the maps of those days indicated. In reality he
had discovered the large island of New Britain. He
describes St. George’s Channel, which divides New
Britain in two, as a “ bay ” ; but it has kept the name of
St. George, which he gave it, ever since. The natives
continued shy. They would accept the hatchets and
looking-glasses offered to them by the Englishmen, and
then fail to return with the cocoanuts or pork which
were to be given in exchange. When the English
approached their villages they fled to the jungle, so
Dampier coolly appropriated a number of their fishing
nets as a “ recompense ” for his “ toys.” Then he very
foolishly allowed some of his men to go ashore without
him, and of course there was a row, and several natives
injured, and “ images ” (gods) stolen from their shrines,
and a dozen or more fine fat pigs brought on board.
Dampier, still anxious to be friends, immediately sent a
canoe to the beach with six knives, six looking-glasses, a
bunch of beads and four glass bottles, which his men
spread out “ to the best advantage,” and then came
away. He meant it well, but how shall a man be repaid
for the loss of his gods !

The “ Roebuck ” was now approaching Dampier
Strait, which divides New Britain from New Guinea.
Its discovery was the most important achievement of the
voyage. Dampier soon realized this, and was vexed
that a sudden indisposition kept him so much to his
cabin. However, he was able to look around him, and
to name the great island to the north Nova Britannia

EXPLORES AUSTRALIA AND NEW GUINEA 179

(New Britain), and another smaller one after Sir George
Rook, who was one of the Lords of the Admiralty, and
had served with him nearly thirty years before as a
lieutenant on the “ Royal Prince ” in the Dutch War.

One night as he lay in his cabin, the chief mate roused
him to come on deck and see a “ burning hill ” on an
island near at hand.^ “ All night,” says Dampier, “ it
vomited Fire and Smoke very amazingly, and at every
Belch we heard a dreadful noise like Thunder, and saw
a Flame of Fire, the most terrifying that ever I saw . . .
and then might be seen a great Stream of Fire, running
down to the foot of the island, even to the shore.” Ill
as he was, he had not lost his gift of description.

The morale of the “ Roebuck’s ” crew was now better
than it had ever been, and as far as his men were con-
cerned, Dampier might have sailed on to the S.E. until he
came to those farther shores of Australia, which to-day
are crowded with flourishing cities and attracting their
thousands of immigrants from Europe every year. But
the poor old “ Roebuck ” herself was in such a con-
dition that, if he had done so, he would never have
lived to tell the tale. It was necessary to get back to
some port where her leaking sides could be repaired.
He returned, therefore, by the way he had come, all
round the coast of New Guinea, and set his course across
the Banda Sea. It was an uneventful voyage. Off
Ceram Island, they spoke a Dutch sloop, on board of
which there was a Malayan merchant, who told them
that about six months previously the Governor of Ben-
coolen (Dampier’s old enemy) had “ either died or was
killed,” and that an English skipper of one of the
ships then in harbour had succeeded to his post. They

^ Mr. Masefield suggests that it may have been the small volcano on
Ritter Island in Dampier Strait, which is stiU active. Hughes gives its
position, but he is not sufficiently accurate in these matters to enable us
to say with certainty which island he means.

WILLIAM DAMPIER

i8o

put into port at Batavia, and lay there till the i yth October,
1 700, refitting for the long voyage home.

That voyage was like a nightmare. The ship coxild
hardly be kept afloat. Dampier even forgets to give us
his usual description of the places visited — an eloquent
testimony to his state of mind. They were at the Cape
on the 30th December, at St. Helena on the 2nd February,
and on the 22nd February were off the island of Ascen-
sion, where “ we sprung a leak which increased so that
the chain pump could not keep the ship free.” With
the help or the hand pump, however, they managed to
get into harbour where they could look for the leak.
Dampier blames the carpenter’s mate, whose efforts only
seemed to make matters worse. All hands were called
to the pumps, and, heartened with “ some drams to
comfort them,” they worked magnificently. But the
water still increased. They had to give it up. They
warped in close to the land, and made a raft “ to carry
the men’s chests and bedding ashore.” They also landed
some bags of rice and water ; but Dampier complains
that many of his books and papers were lost.

He says little of the sinking of the “ Roebuck,” but
it must have been a dismal sight for them as they sat on
this bleak, uninhabited island, watching the old ship
settle down to her undignified grave in three fathoms of
water. Did Dampier’s dreams sink with her — ^with this
first important command of his ? I think not. He
does not give the impression of having cared about
command for its own sake — but only for the greater
mobility it gave him as an explorer. In his heart he
probably cursed the “ Roebuck,” as he watched her
sink, because she had not carried him further. But
there is no word in his diary to suggest that he felt
himself in any way to blame for what had happened.
He was not disillusioned, only angry — and rather
hungry — ^like his crew.

ernambuco

EXPLORES AUSTRALIA AND NEW GUINEA i8r

However, they found turtles to eat, which many a
stay-at-home Englishman might envy them — ^and places
in the hollow rocks where they could shelter from the
weather. And on the 3rd April, after five weeks of
this Robinson Crusoe existence, four ships came into
harbour, and took them off. These were three men of
war, the “ Anglesey,” the “ Hastings ” and the “ Lizard,”
and one East Indiaman, the “ Canterbury.” Dampier
at first went on board the “ Anglesey,” with most of
his men ; but on the 8th May the King’s ships bore
away for Barbadoes, “ and I being desirous to get to
England as soon as possible took my passage in the
ship ‘ Canterbury,’ accompanied with my Master,
Purser, Gunner and three of my superior officers.” He
probably had some inkling that trouble was brewing
at home.

CHAPTER X

HE IS COURT-MARTIALLED BUT
GETS ANOTHER COMMAND

lERE is no incident in Dampier’s
career that throws a more vivid light
upon his character, and upon the whole
manner of life on shipboard in those
times, than the court-martial which
followed upon his return to England
after the loss of the “ Roebuck.” And
the fact that his principal biographer,
Rear-Admiral Smyth, moved by some strange obstinacy,
denied that any such court-martial had ever taken place
(whereas the minutes and all relevant documents are
available at the Public Record Office), while that very
readable short biography by Mr. Clark Russell in the
” English Men of Action ” series simply ignores it, is
one of the principal reasons why a new biography of
Dampier was due to be written.

Enemies had been busy in England for some time,
while Dampier and his company were exploring the
coasts of New Holland, straightening out the map of
New Guinea, and being shipwrecked on Ascension
Island. In those days they did not prepare public
receptions for returning explorers who had lost their
ships. They prepared courts-martial instead. And
Lieutenant Fisher, who had been in England since
December, 1699, had seen that the case for the
prosecutionJiJwas well worked up. Dampier had, in
182

IS COURT-MARTIALLED 183

fact, to face a whole series of inquiries. In regard to
the first, which was simply the ordinary and inevitable
investigation into the loss of one of the King’s ships,
the “ Roebuck,” Fisher’s evidence, happily for Dampier,
had no relevance, since he was not present at the time.
The Court had before it the evidence of Dampier himself,
of Hughes, the master, of the boatswain’s mate, of two
of the seamen, and of the unfortunate carpenter’s mate
(whom everyone blamed). Dampier mentions that he
had no carpenter on board except this man, Penton ;
and Hughes confirms Dampier’s account, quoted in the
last chapter, adding that he heard the captain say that
he “ never was in any ship where we cutt for leakes, but
I am no carpenter, therefore desire you that vmderstand
it to use your utmost endeavour to stop it.” It is
obvious that this cutting away of timber to get at the
leak accelerated the inrush of water. Penton in his
evidence merely says that “ we sprung a grate leak,”
and could not stop it. This inquiry was held on the
29th September, 1701. No verdict is recorded, but the
evidence is all one way, and we may safely presume that
Dampier was honourably acquitted.

But Lieutenant Fisher had not allowed the grass to
grow under his feet. He must have written a dozen or
more letters to the Lords of the Admiralty, beginning
with his first petition while still a prisoner at Bahia,
continuing from on board ship, from Lisbon, where he
was first landed on his way home, and from different
addresses in England, almost up to the date of the trial.
Dampier, for his part, had taken the precaution, while
in harbour at Bahia, of forwarding to the Admiralty six
separate versions of his quarrel with Fisher, written by
supporters of his — ^Hughes, Chadwick, Rumbold, John
Knight, Paine the gunner and Watson the carpenter.
He also put in a formal petition addressed to him at
Bahia, over the signatures of the master, the gunner.

WILLIAM DAMPIER

184

the carpenter and the boatswain, expressing their “ unani-
mous opinion ” that “ it is not safe or expedient to carry
him (Fisher) on your designed voyage,” as he would
certainly endeavour to stir up a mutiny.

After his return to England, Fisher induced the widow
of the boatswain, Norwood, who had died at Barbadoes,
following the escape from Ascension Island, to petition
the Admiralty, claiming that her husband’s death was
due to the severity of his treatment by Dampier, who
had kept him in confinement on board ship for a period
of four months. It will be remarked that Fisher himself
had been the first to quarrel with Norwood. On the
evidence of the “ Roebuck’s ” surgeon, who said that
the illness which eventually killed the boatswain had
been present in his system long before his imprisonment,
and moreover that he had been at liberty no less than
ten months and in moderately good health before it
reappeared and made an end of him, the Court acquitted
Dampier on this charge. Dampier complained that he
never heard of it until just before the court-martial
met.

Another old enemy of Fisher’s was the seaman
Grigson ^ (or Gregson). This man deserted the “ Roe-
buck ” at Bahia, after a quarrel with the purser, and,
going to see Fisher in prison, the latter induced him to
write a letter to the Admiralty, in which he pleaded that,
though a deserter, he should have his wages paid to him
on account of the behaviour of the captain and officers
of the ” Roebuck.” According to him, the master was
quite incompetent, and, more often than not, drunk ;
while Dampier is represented as little better than an
imbecile, who never knew within fifty leagues where
they were, nor ventured to take charge of the ship in
the master’s absence. When Grigson complained to
him of the master, he “ seemed to tacke no notis of itt.”

1 See page 159. Hughes calls him a “ midshipman.”

IS COURT-MARTIALLED 185

Grigson adds : “I believe it was through ignorance,
for I have known him some years and did always think
I should find him to be a very ignorant man.” The
court-martial ignored Grigson’s charges ; and the extra-
ordinary thing is that Fisher, although he had got this
letter out of him, and though they were comrades in
distress at Bahia and came home together, pursued the
man with implacable animosity, petitioning the Admiralty
again and again to have him arrested, and trumping up
new charges, as that he had offered to turn Roman
Catholic at Bahia, and spoken “ traitorous and villainous
words ” against King William III, and so forth. The
Admiralty seems to have ignored these charges, too.

After all, there was only one serious point in the whole
case, and this must have been very clear in the minds
of Sir Clowdisley Shovell, the President of the court-
martial, Vice-Admiral Hopson and the rest, when they
went on board H.M.S. “ Royall Souveraine ” at Spithead
on June 8th, 1702. The point was this : was Dampier
justified in his treatment of Fisher at Bahia ? Fisher
may have been a poisonous fellow, it may have been
true that no voyage of exploration could have succeeded
with him on board ; but the question was whether he
had done anything which justified his captain in thrusting
a commissioned officer into a dirty Portuguese jail, and
leaving him there (as it appeared) without any means
of subsistence for himself and the two sailors with him,
while the ship sailed away. Judged by the buccaneers*
code, no doubt, Dampier had treated his lieutenant very
lightly ; under Sawkins or Read, Fisher would have
been left, not in a jail, but on the beach of the nearest
desert island, to starve at his leisure. But this was one
of the King’s ships. Fisher held the King’s commis-
sion ; he was a gentleman, and had been an enthusiastic
Whig volunteer ; and I cannot help thinking that the
members of the court-martial were unconsciously influ-

WILLIAM DAMPIER

1 86

enced in their decision by the difference in the records
of the two men. Here is their verdict :

“ The Court ... is of opinion that Captain William
Dampier has been guilty of very Hard and Cruel Usage
towards Lieutenant Fisher, in beating him aboard ye sd.
ship, and confining him in Irons a considerable time,
and afterwards imprisoning him on shore in a strange
country, and itt is resolved that itt does not appear to
the Court by ye evidence that there has been any grounds
for this ill usage of him, and that the sd. Captain Dampier
falls under ye 33rd Article for these his irregular pro-
ceedings, and that the Court does adjudge that Hee be
fined all his pay to the Chest at Chatham . . . and itt
is farther the opinion of ye Court that the said Captain
Dampier is not a fitt person to be employ’d as Commdr.
of any of Her Majesty’s ships.”

Well, there it is. Sir Clowdisley Shovell saw the wit-
nesses ; I did not. But I have read the evidence care-
fully, and can only say that Fisher must have been a
very good witness indeed (which you would never suspect
from the rambling, irresponsible, abusive tone of his
letters) and Dampier a very bad one — ^which again you
would not guess from the clear incisive style of his
books. But, as I have said before, he was always a poor
controversialist. One thing is certain, that the morale
of the “ Roebuck’s ” crew improved from the moment
Fisher left, and that Dampier’s important discoveries in
Australia and New Guinea would never have been made
if his enemy had remained on board.

The verdict did Dampier no harm. Whether because
there was some doubt in official circles as to the justice
of the decision, or for some other reason which we do
not know, he was reinstated in a new command with
quite startling promptitude. Just ten months after Sir

GETS ANOTHER COMMAND 187

Clowdisley Shovell and the other officers had pronounced
him unfit to command any of Her Majesty’s ships, we
read in the London Gazette ^ that “ Captain William
Dampier, being prepared to depart on another voyage to
the West Indies, had the honour to kiss Her Majesty’s
hand, being introduced by His Royal Highness, the
Lord High Admiral.” ^

This almost looks like an official snub for the members
of the court-martial. In one respect, however, the situa-
tion had changed very much in Dampier’s favour. The
War of the Spanish Succession had broken out, in which
France and Spain were our enemies, and, in every port
on the southern coast, English privateers were being
fitted out to prey upon French and Spanish commerce.
In these circumstances, the services of a man like
Dampier could hardly be refused. The allegation of
his enemies that he was incapable of navigating a ship
can never have been taken seriously. The court-martial,
as we have seen, ignored them. On the contrary, there
was no officer afloat better acquainted with those seas
in which the rich commerce of Spain lay open to attack.
So that when the owners of the privateer, “ St. George,”
of twenty-six guns and carrying a crew of 120 men,
then lying in the Downs, wished to appoint Dampier
as her commander, official approval was promptly
forthcoming.

It must have been a busy scene in the Downs, and we
can well believe that many of Dampier’s old companions,
many hard-bitten ex-buccaneers, were on the look-out
for a job — and getting it without much difficulty too.
Lying next to the St. George was another privateer,
the “ Fame ” (Captain John Pulling), and it was intended
that the two ships should sail in company to the West
Indies. They were well supplied with “ warlike stores ”

^ London Gazette, No. 3906.

® Prince George of Denmark.

i88

WILLIAM DAMPIER

and victualled for nine months, and “ had commissions
from H.R.H. the Lord High Admiral to proceed in
warlike manner against the French and Spaniards.”
They also obtained an official “ protection ” against the
naval press-gangs, then busy in all the ports.^ On board
the “ St. George ” was a steward named William Funnell,
to whom we are indebted for the only description of this
voyage which we possess.

Dampier, for some reason, had ceased to keep a
journal. It is true he lost all his papers in the course
of this voyage, but apparently there was no diary among
them. His record of the “ Roebuck ” adventure was
the last that he ever wrote. William Funnell is an
amusing enough writer, and so far as his facts can be
checked he seems to be fairly reliable, except where his
captain is concerned. He disliked Dampier, and always
tries to represent his conduct in the worst possible light.
That is a disadvantage, of course ; but we have Dampier’s
hurriedly written Vindication.^ which he produced after
he had seen Funnell’s book, and a further Ans'voer to the
Vindication, by one John Welbe, a midshipman, who takes
Funnell’s side. Between the three of them, we get a
fairly clear idea of the chief incidents of the voyage.
But Dampier’s dramatic little touches, Dampier’s natural
eloquence and his powers of observation are sadly
missing.

The “ St. George ” left the Downs unaccompanied,
after all. There had been a disagreement between the
owners and those of the “ Fame,” and Pulling had gone
off on his own account.® Funnell gives us a foretaste
of his defects as an historian by alleging that Pulling’s

* Acti of the frivy Council ; Colonial Series.

® He went to Bermuda, and there (in August, 1703) caused a mild
sensation by getting his ship blown up in harbour, owing to “ the care-
lessness of one of the Purser’s servants,” who was “ drawing brandy in
the Lazaretto ” with a lighted candle in his hand, and so started a fire.

GETS ANOTHER COMMAND rSg

departure was the result of a personal quarrel with
Dampier. As a matter of fact, Dampier was up in
London at the time.i Funnell says that the plan was
to proceed first to the River Plate, and seize “ two or
three Spanish galleons,” and “ if by that expedition we
go to the value of ,^600,000 ” — an incredible sum —
“ then to return again without proceeding further.”
They must have expected these galleons to be literally
made of gold ! The truth seems to be that Dampier
had a roving commission to do very much as he liked,
and that nothing was definitely decided] upon.'s.*^ .They
sailed on April 30th, 1703, and anchored off Kinsale
on the 1 8 th May. Here they were joined by the
“ Cinque Ports ” galley, a small ship of about 90 tons,
carrying sixteen guns, and a crew of sixty-three men,
commanded by Captain Charles Pickering.

They sailed to Madeira, and thence to the Cape Verde
Islands, sighting St. lago on October 7th. Funnell
seems to have been unfortunate in his relations with the
inhabitants, whose characteristics he describes with much
bitterness. The natives here, he says, were formerly
Portuguese, banished thither for “ murthers, thefts and
other villainies.” They “ are now mostly black ” by
intermarriage with women slaves, but “ though they
have changed their colour, they have retained their vices.”

^ Moreover, before his death, he showed himself a good friend of
Pulling’s (or PuUein’s) hy procuring for his son, Heniy Pulling, the
appointment of chief adviser to Lord Orford “ in settling the South Sea
Company.” On April 30th, 1715 (a month after Dampier’s death),
Thomas Pulling was petitioning the Privy Council, complaining that
whereas the previous holder of this post had been fourteen years in
office and “ procured himself a very good estate,” his son Henry, who
had succeeded “ on the recommendation of Mr. Dampier, the famous
voyager,” was to be superseded almost as soon as he had established
himself “ at vast expense,” and long before he had had time to feather
his nest in the approved eighteenth-century maimer. Acts of the Privy
Council : Colonial Series (unbound papers).

WILLIAM DAMPIER

190

“ They will take your Hat off your Head at noonday,
although you be in the midst of company.”

Here broke out the first of those inevitable quarrels,
which must, unfortunately, be recognized as a normal
feature of life on ships commanded by Dampier — as
indeed on most ships at this time.^ Once again the
central figure was the lieutenant, this time an officer
named Huxford. We may accept Dampier’s statement
that Hiaxford and Morgan (who was purser and owner’s
agent) went ashore and fought a duel, whereupon the
local Portuguese Governor clapped Huxford under arrest.
Later he came on board again, and then, according to
Funnell and Welbe, Dampier thrust him on shore with
his chest and clothes and servant, and sailed away,
leaving him to perish miserably, “ partly from hunger.”
Welbe tells how the unfortunate lieutenant begged not
to be turned ashore “ among a parcel of banditties and
negroes,” saying that “ he would be contented to lie in
the longboat and go before the mast, rather than go
ashore among a parcel of Heathen.” Dampier’s excuses
are unconvincing. It is plain that in spite of his painful
experience at the court-martial, he was unable to break
himself of the buccaneer’s trick of marooning trouble-
some men.

On November and the “ St. George ” and the “ Cinque
Ports ” crossed the Equator, and three weeks later
anchored off Isla Grande, a small Brazilian island near
the modern town of Rio de Janeiro. Funnell attempts
to fix the position of this island, but his observations are
hopelessly at fault. He also essays a few natural history
notes, which are in amusing contrast with the careful
records his captain had formerly kept. Of the boobies
he writes : “ They are so silly that when they are weary

^ It would be easy to multiply examples of ships of the period worse
disciplined than Dampier’s ; but I do not want to excuse his chief failing
by showing how common it was among lesser men.

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191

of flying they will, if you hold out your hand, come and
sit upon it : from thence I conjecture that they are
called boobies.”

Here Captain Pickering, of the “ Cinque Ports,” died,
and his lieutenant, Thomas Stradling, succeeded to the
command. Here also there may have been a quarrel
between Dampier and his new lieutenant, Hxrxford’s
successor, which resulted in the latter’s going ashore,
taking eight of the crew with him ; but we have only
Funnell’s vague account of this incident, to which neither
Dampier nor Welbe refers. I cannot help doubting
whether it ever happened. They steered south for Cape
Horn, and on the way one of the men died, and his
things were put up for auction. The prices are inter-
esting : “A chest value five shillings was sold for ;^3 ;
a pair of shoes value four shillings and sixpence sold for
31 shillings ; half a pound of thread value 2 shillings
sold for 1 7 shillings and sixpence.” They rounded the
Horn, and on February 7th sighted the island of Juan
Fernandez (which Funnell pretends that Dampier was
unable to recognize). Here they found the “ Cinque
Ports ” already at anchor.

The three weeks’ stay at this island was a happy time
for William Funnell. He enjoyed himself among the
“ sea-Lyons,” of which there were many on the island.
The ordinary way of killing these unfortunate creatures
was “ to clap a pistol just to his mouth as it stood open,
and fire down his throat.” But “ if we had a mind to
have some sport with him, which we call Lyon-baiting,”
a party of sailors armed with half pikes would “ prick
him to death, which commonly would be a sport for
two or three hours before we should conquer him.” So
with this “ sport ” on shore, and with the watering and
refitting of their ships, they passed their time at Juan
Fernandez. But Stradling, as though to show that
Dampier was not the only “ cruel ” captain in those

WILLIAM DAMPIER

192

parts, had got into such trouble with his crew that no
fewer than forty-two of them — that is, more than half —
had gone ashore and refused to re-embark. Dampier,
from the “ St. George,” succeeded in making up this
quarrel. Funnell, who seldom has a good word for him,
remarks that “ by the endeavours of Captain Dampier
they were again reconciled.”

On February 29 th, they sighted a French ship, and
went in pursuit. She was a powerful vessel of thirty
guns, and though the “ St. George ” and the “ Cinque
Ports ” “ fought her very close broadside and broadside
for seven hours,” they had made little impression upon
her when “ a small gale ” sprang up and enabled her to
sheer off. Dampier would not pursue, thinking it a safer
game to wait for some fat Spanish galleon ; but in the
meantime they had left most of their boats behind at
Juan Fernandez, and this rather cramped their activities.
Returning to the island to recover them, they saw two
large French ships in harbour, and discreetly “ stood
away for the coast of Peru.” Any reader who has
followed me through the story of Dampier’s cruises in
those waters with the buccaneers will appreciate that,
without their boats, our privateers were like birds with
broken wings. They could capture ships at sea, but
they could do no “ cutting out,” and they could not
land armed parties to seize the Spanish coast towns. Off
Arica, for instance, which they visited next, and which
Dampier knew of old, the best they could do was to
hang about outside the harbour, hoping to catch some
ship coming out. They chased two of these, but finding
them to be Frenchmen (one was the same they had
fought off Juan Fernandez) Dampier desisted, though
Funnell says his crew were burning for a fight. He
stood along the shore to the northward, and presently
took a Spanish ship of 150 tons, out of which he removed
“ a little of everything,” and then let her go, “ alleging

GETS ANOTHER COMMAND 193

that if he kept her it would be a hind ’ranee to his greater
designs.” It seems a reasonable enough explanation,
quite in line with the policy of the older “ privateers ” ;
and Dampier adds that he did not, as a matter of fact,
possess an officer who was capable of taking charge of a
prize — they were “ pyrating fellows, rather than true
sailors.”

Dampier now prepared an ambitious plan of campaign
against Santa Maria, the scene of his earlier “ golden
dreams,” it being “ the first place they send all their
gold to, which they dig out of mines not far from Santa
Maria.” On their way thither, they captured two small
Spanish ships, the first of which they kept. On the
second was a Guernsey man, who had been taken prisoner
in the Bay of Campeachy, where he was cutting log-
wood, and imprisoned in Mexico for two years. He
was overjoyed at his rescue. They arrived at the mouth
of the river at eight o’clock at night, “ having dark
rainy weather, with much thunder and lightning, so that
we were all very wet and had a most uncomfortable
night, for we were forced to lie in all the rain, having no
shelter in our little Bark.” From which it is clear that
they made the expedition against Santa Maria in the
Spanish prize they had just captured, leaving the “ St.
Greorge ” and the “ Cinque Ports ” to cruise off the
mouth of the river. At daylight an Indian canoe came
near and hailed them, whereupon, says Funnell, “ our
captain ordered them to be fired at, which was done
accordingly.” It seems a particularly idiotic order for
Dampier to have given, for of course the canoe immedi-
ately paddled away to warn the people of Santa Maria.
He himself says that he was “ very uneasy and troubled ”
at this gun having been fired, contrary to his orders.
One feels that he would have done better with this crew
if he had brought that famous cane of his into action
more often.

WILLIAM DAMPIER

194.

Two launches were sent up the river at once, and the
barque followed. It was still very dark, but the men
in the launches heard dogs barking near the bank, and
following this sound they landed, and captured the
small town of Schuchadero, which they found deserted
by its inhabitants. The barque, missing them in the
darkness, went on up the river as far as Santa Maria,
but discovered the mistake and returned. In an Indian
canoe they found a packet of letters addressed by the
Giovernor of Panama to the Governor of Santa Maria,
warning him of an impending attack by 250 “ English
from Jamaica,” and stating that he had sent 400 soldiers
to his assistance, with reinforcements to follow. Obvi-
ously no time was to be lost, and next day (April 30th)
Dampier and Stradling led a party up the river in their
launches and one or two captured canoes to attack Santa
Maria. They found the Spaniards waiting for them,
and blundered into no fewer than three ambuscades.
At this point Dampier was for giving up the expedition,
pointing out that the Spaniards must have removed
everything of value from the town. Apparently Stradling
agreed with him, for they returned down the river to
their ships, where provisions were now so short that
“ five green plantains were boiled for every six men.”
The attempt had been a fiasco.

At twelve o’clock that night, however, as they lay
huddled in their hammocks, trying to forget their troubles,
the luck suddenly changed. A tall ship appeared off
the moxith of the river — she was, in fact, a Spanish
“ great ship ” of 550 tons — and approaching noiselessly
through the mist, dropped anchor just beside the English
privateers, whose nationality she had not suspected.
Rousing themselves at the sight of this easy prey, the
privateers were into their boats and over the sides of
the Spaniard before the astonished dons had realized
what was happening. She was “ deeply laden with flour.

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195

sugar, brandy, wine, and thirty tons of marmalade of
quinces,” not to mention salt, linen and woollen cloth :
so that now they might put out to sea with a good heart
in search of further adventure. Funnell complains that
this rich prize was never properly “ rummaged,” and
in particular asserts that there were 80,000 dollars hidden
somewhere in her hold ; but Dampier, who had inter-
viewed her captain, says he had “ evident proof that she
landed her money at Truxillo.” He must have known
more about it than Funnell did ; but it is fair to add
that the latter had now been promoted from the rank
of steward, and was put on board this new prize with
Alexander Selkirk, the mate of the “ Cinque Ports.”
In his Vindication Dampier complained that his enemies
had suggested that he might have obtained ransom for
this ship. He becomes almost incoherent in his rage
at this suggestion, referring to his critics among the
crew as “ a parcel of fellows who were perpetually
drunk ” ; and we, who can remember his adventures
among the buccaneers, and how Sharp and Cook and
the rest were continually hanging about Spanish harbours,
waiting for ransoms that never came — a fire-ship in the
middle of the night was a more likely answer — can
understand his wrath.

At Tobago, which they next visited, Dampier and
Stradling decided to part. There is again a conflict of
evidence : Funnell asserting that the two captains
quarrelled, which Dampier indignantly denies. What
is certain is that, after leaving Dampier, Stradling sailed
south to the island of Juan Fernandez, where he had
left five members of his crew, and stores and ammunition.
He found them all gone, having been picked up by
some French ships. But before leaving there he had a
bitter quarrel with his mate, Alexander Selkirk, who
insisted on being left alone on the island, rather than
sail another day with Stradling. And thereby hangs

WILLtAM DAMPIER

196

one of the most famous tales in English literature, for
Selkirk, as everybody knows, was the “ original ” of
Robinson Crusoe,

Dampier’s unhappy voyage continued, the discipline
of his crew going steadily from bad to worse. On the
yth June they captured a small ship, and got news from
her that the Spaniards had fitted out two men-of-war,
one of 32 guns, the other of 36, to cruise in the Bay of
Guayaquil in search of the English privateers. And on
the 2 1st they came up with one of these warships and
fought with her all day, expending an immense amount
of powder and shot, but neither giving nor receiving
any serious damage. Funnell boasts that the English
fired about 560 shots, to the Spaniards’ “ no or 115,”
upon which Dampier comments sarcastically that “ I do
verily believe not 60 ever hit her,” and he adds that
such waste of ammunition was more than he could stand,
so that in the end “ I was forced to command ’em to
forbear firing.” They lay to all night, no doubt squab-
bling and blaming each other for the failure, and in the
morning found that the Spaniard had sailed away. Seeing
a Spanish village on shore, Dampier sent in a boat to
collect wood and provisions, but “ upon one shot fired
at ’em they all came running aboard frighted.” “ And
these,” he goes on in the same bitter tone, “ are the
Mighty Bravoes that are fit to set people by the Ears
at home, and make Scandal as rife with me as ’tis with
them.” He accuses Bellhash, the master, Clippington,
the mate, Bath, the gunner, and others of being always
“ on the watch to overset the voyage,” of cheating the
owners, and so forth. In fact, he was as tired of his
crew as they were of him. With such an “ atmosphere ”
on board, no voyage could be expected to succeed.

The next move was to the Gulf of Nicoya, where
Dampier intended to careen his ship, and repair her
bottom. Dampier and the carpenter went among the

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197

islands in a canoe, looking for a suitable place, and when
they returned to the ship in the evening they brought
two turtles with them. Then, says Funnell, “ we went
to work, cutting up the turtles, boiling, roasting, frying,
baking and stewing, according as each one thought fit.”
The life of these privateersmen was no doubt full of
hardships, but they were at any rate in a position to
include real turtle soup in almost every meal I Having
chosen their place, they got the “ St. George ” in among
the islands to a comfortable little anchorage which
Dampier had found, “ within a stone’s cast of the shore
all round.” They secured the ship by means of the
anchor, and a cable round a tree at the water’s edge,
and proceeded to make themselves at home. They set
up tents on shore for the cooper and the sailmaker to
work in, and others to contain their provisions, which
they had removed from the hold of the ship before getting
to work at her leaks ; and those of the men who were
not otherwise employed “ went ashore often with the
Sain (or fishing net) and caught store of fish.” When
they came to look at the “ St. George,” they found her
condition deplorable. To put it vulgarly, Dampier had
once again been sold a pup. Her timbers were even
rottener than those of the “ Roebuck ” ; her bottom
was “ eaten like a honeycomb ” ; Funnell asserts that
the “ firm plank was no thicker than a sixpence,” so
that in places “ we could thrust our thumbs quite through
with ease.” These are obvious exaggerations, but they
indicate the kind of gossip that was going on among
the crew. Owing to their failure at the native village
mentioned above, they were without suitable timber to
repair the ship, and the carpenter was forced to “ stop
the leaks as well as he could with nails and oakum.”

Now Dampier had fitted out one of his small Spanish
prizes as a long-boat, and on her he had placed all his
ammunition and a part of his provisions while the “ St.

WILLIAM DAMPIER

198

George ” was being repaired. Here was an obvious
opportunity for intending mutineers. Dampier’s mate,
Clippington, a man of surly and cantankerous temper,
had long been dissatisfied, and he seems to have come to
the conclusion that it would not be safe to put to sea
again in the “ St. George.” He therefore collected
twenty-one other malcontents, and, suddenly boarding
the prize, he seized her, and sailed away, taking with
him the ammunition and provisions. Dampier and
Funnell are agreed about the main facts here, except
that the latter tries to excuse Clippington, by saying that
he later put some of the ammunition ashore, “ that we
might not be quite destitute.” Welbe tells a very im-
probable story, to the effect that Dampier formally
authorized Clippington’s proceedings, saying that he and
his friends “ might take the barque and go where they
pleased, and he would give them arms.” This is a
palpable falsehood ; for if Dampier in a fit of madness
had given Clippington leave to take the arms away, why
should the latter have come back again and restored
some, as he does in Funnell’s story ? Obviously he had
a twinge of conscience. And obviously Welbe is a
witness who will say almost anything. Clippington, in
the “ Dragon,” afterwards made an adventurous voyage
to the East Indies, and, returning to England in 1706,
he sailed in company with the well-known privateer
commander, Shelvocke, who gives him an extremely bad
character. He died about twenty years later, being then
in a state of destitution.

Finding himself thus deserted by a considerable portion
of his crew, Dampier determined upon one last desperate
effort to achieve the kind of success that would restore
the morale of the remainder, and send them home to
England comparatively rich men. He decided to go
for the Manila ship. Accordingly they cruised to the
west, having “ very dirty squally weather,” and on the

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199

9th October they took a small Spanish barque, whose
captain was a Spaniard named Christian Martin, who
had been brought up in London and was actually
cruising in the West Indies with Captain Eaton when
he deserted and entered the service of Spain. This
man was very useful to Dampier in his search
(we may safely disregard Welbe’s allegation that at
this point Dampier deliberately attempted to desert
those of his crew who were in the captured barque) ;
and on the 6th December they at last came in
sight of the Manila ship. The galleon, with her big
eighteen and twenty-four pounders, could have sunk the
“ St. George ” with one broadside ; but the privateers
attacked her without hesitation, and the Spaniards, with
their usual incompetence, failed to bring most of their
guns to bear. Funnell says that Captain Martin advised
Dampier to board at once, and indeed it seemed to be
their only chance ; but Dampier, unfortunately, hesi-
tated, and, while the question was still being debated,
the “ St. George ” received a shot between wind and
water, whereupon “ the signal was made to stand off
from the enemy.” Funnell states these facts without
comment, but Welbe flatly accuses Dampier of cowardice.
When he was urged to “ clap her on board,” all he
could say was “ Where is the canoe ? Where is the
canoe ? ” and he “ was for getting into the boat to save
his life.” Dampier blames his crew again, asserting
that the “ very man at the helm contradicted my orders,
edg’d her away to leeward once more : at which I
offered to shoot him through the head.” Upon which
the obvious comment is that no really efficient com-
mander (Woodes Rogers, for instance) would ever have
been found arguing the point with the man at the helm.

If the men of the “ St. George ” had been feeling
discouraged before, they were now in a state of gloom
which must sooner or later lead to mutiny. The end of

200

WILLIAM DAMPIER

it was that the “ St. George ” parted company with the
barque, upon which were no fewer than thirty-three of
the men (Funnell and Welbe among them) who were
determined to sail in her for India. Now, according to
Dampier, guns and provisions for the barque were taken
from him by force. He says that Bellhash, the master,
“ took him by the throat, the rest standing by, and swore
he would dash his brains out if he said a word.” Even
Morgan, the owners’ agent, was against him. A certain
Toby Thomas, one of the officers, and a man whose
personality seems to have irritated Dampier to madness,
approached him at this juncture, and said, “ Poor
Dampier, thy case is like King James’s, everybody has
left thee.” “ That buffoon ! ” exclaims Dampier,
shrilly — ^he can never mention his name without a sneer —
that “ never-to-be-forgotten noble Captain Thomas ! ”
Funnell and Welbe swear that Dampier agreed to the
departure of the barque, which, as it took four of his
guns, with small arms and ammunition and a large part
of his provisions, seems extremely unlikely. He did,
however, get rid of Welbe, who, from now on, transfers
his attentions to Morgan, libelling him thoughtfully and
comprehensively in a series of letters to Lord Townshend,
which Mr. Masefield has unearthed.

Thirty-five men departed in the barque, leaving
Dampier with twenty-eight followers and twenty-eight
guns on his crazy craft. Yet the very shipwreck of his
plans seems to have inspired him with new courage.
While the barque and its mutinous crew set sail for the
East, the “ St. George ” returned to the coast of South
America, and there they landed and took the town of
Puna, which they ransacked. It was perhaps the most
successful exploit of the whole voyage ; but in the
absence of Funnell we get no detailed description. After
the sack of Puna, they put to sea, and presently captured
a Spanish ship, to which they transferred themselves.

GETS ANOTHER COMMAND 201

leaving the poor old “ St. George ” a drifting, leaking
derelict, to sink at her leisure. Their subsequent adven-
tures are obscure, but it is known that they sailed in
their prize to the Dutch East Indies, where, as Dampier
had lost his commission at Puna, they were all arrested
and thrown into prison. How long they remained there
is uncertain, but they were eventually released, and
Dampier returned to England.

He returned, as usual, not a penny richer than he was
when he left. I say this advisedly, for some years later
an action was begun in the Chancery Division against
Dampier, Stradling and several other defendants, mer-
chants of Bristol, accusing them of misappropriating the
proceeds of this voyage.^ Morgan, the owners’ agent,
is also aimed at, though not “ joined ” in the action.
It is alleged that, on leaving Dampier, he took with
him half the booty, sold it at a high profit in Batavia,
and on his return to England produced only £ 600 ,
saying he could get no more. As for Dampier, the story
is that, after his return to England, he and others met
“ at the Young Devill Tavern, near Temple Bar,” and
at various private houses, and there conspired together
to make a division of the spoil and to use the money to
fit out a “ second expedition ” — ^Woodes Rogers’s. The
“ inwardness ” of all this is that the plaintiff (a woman)
was the heir-at-law of one of those who put money into
the unsuccessful “ St. George ” venture, and now hoped
to recoup her estate by claiming a share in that of
Woodes Rogers, which was very profitable. The action
was apparently dropped. Dampier never put a penny
into the Woodes Rogers voyage. He was too late to
do so, even if he had possessed the means. And we
happen to know that at the very first port of call he had

^ See Dr. B. M. H. Rogers’s account in the Mariner’s Mirror, 1924,
of some MS. papers lent to me by Mr. F. H. Goldney of Cosham,
Wilts.” I shall have occasion to refer to these papers again.

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WILLIAM DAMPIER

to borrow money in order to provide himself with
clothes.^

But Dampier, when he landed in England, “ broke ”
once more, found himself in a pleasant enough atmo-
sphere. In spite of the failure of his voyage, and the
evidence it afforded of those weaknesses of temperament
which always prevented him from being a really successful
leader of men, his great reputation as a navigator was
unimpaired. His friends stood by him. He was called
to London, and presented to the Queen, that he might
give her an account of his adventures. And when he
had relieved his feelings by writing his Vindication in
reply to Funnell’s book, he found that there was still
no lack of openings for him at sea. Englishmen who
had twice circumnavigated the globe were rare in
those days.

It is at this point, I am well aware, that I shall be
expected to explain what effect these events had upon
Dampier’s psychology. What, in short, were his “ re-
actions ” ? It is a fact that he never held another com-
mand, and, so far as we know, never asked for one. Is
there significance in that } Was he beginning to doubt
himself at last ? That would be tragedy. Dampier
himself was the least introspective of men ; but it is
safe to answer for him that he never cared a fig for
command — only for exploration and adventure. There
is one sign, and one only, that his spirit may be failing
him a little ; and that is that he no longer keeps a
diary. But his courage and confidence are obviously
undiminished. As long as he can continue to get about
the world, and continue to enjoy the confidence of his
scientific friends in London who appreciate what he is
trying to do, he will snap his fingers at the rest.

^ See page 237.

CHAPTER XI

HE MAKES HIS LAST VOYAGE

F all Dampier’s voyages, it is probable
that this next one, upon which he
was about to set out, was, as Sir
Albert Gray suggests, the happiest
to himself.

He was now a man of fifty-six, a
dark, attractive, brooding figure, the
friend of leading scientists, the life-
long associate of desperate adventurers — a man with a
great and well-established reputation, but one of a kind
quite peculiar to himself. He had written the best travel-
book in the English language since Hakluyt ; but when it
came to travelling, he had too often managed just to miss
his goal. Merchant adventurers, as Dampier’s critics
have suggested, may have begun about this time to look
a little askance at him, as an unlucky commander. Yet,
in some respects, and those not precisely what we should
have expected, his reputation evidently stood higher than
ever. The continued support of his scientific friends.
Sir Robert Southwell, Sir Hans Sloane and the rest,
and the Royal favour which this implied, may have been
due to better recognition of his value as a writer on
hydrography. His admirable Discourse on Winds, it will
be remembered, had not left the printers’ hands when
he sailed from England in the “ Roebuck.” In his
absence it had been read and appreciated, and we can
imagine people like Sloane and Southwell, and even

203

WILLIAM DAMPIER

204

Wren and Newton, pointing out to their friends in the
coffee-houses that no other living Englishman was capable
of producing this detailed account of the conditions that
explorers might expect in so many different parts of the
world. They would have been interested, too, in his
discoveries on the coast of New Guinea. To us, who
know what he so narrowly missed on the adjoining
continent of Australia, the voyage of the “ Roebuck ”
may seem a failure ; but to his contemporaries it repre-
sented a tremendous advance upon the geographical
knowledge of their time ; and geographers were prepared
to render due acknowledgment to its author, without
troubling themselves about his squabbles with his
crews.

In the Spanish West Indies, on the other hand, it
was his reputation as a fighting man that had become
formidable. He had spent so much time there that
every local Spaniard was familiar with his name. Con-
temporary critics are agreed — ^whether they like Dampier
or not — that his name had become a terror in those
waters, unequalled since the days of Morgan and
L’Olonois. It may seem absurd to us who know how
little of the bloodthirsty swashbuckler there was in his
character. It may have seemed absurd to many of his
contemporaries, who had sailed with him. But in the
history of Woodes Rogers’s voyages — not a word of
which was written by Dampier himself — ^we shall find
evidence again and again of the fear which he inspired
all along the Spanish Main. And it is not to be sup-
posed that the merchant adventurers of England were
so ill-informed as to be unaware of this fact. They
might hesitate to trust their ships in his unlucky hands,
but they would want the help, if they could get it, of
his unique knowledge and reputation.

Dampier cannot have been many months in England
before he heard of the projected voyage of two Bristol

MAKES HIS LAST VOYAGE

205

privateers, under that very able commander, Captain
Woodes Rogers. One of Dampier’s biographers (Dr.
Harris)^ has suggested that the voyage was his own idea.
Writing only thirty years after Dampier’s death, when
we might expect a reasonable degree of accuracy in
these matters, Harris says : “ He [Dampier] addressed
himself to the Merchants of Bristol, who are justly
reputed the most active and pushing people in this
Nation. They heard his proposals with patience,
examined them with attention, and at last saw so much
of probability in what he offered and such likelihood of
his proving a good pilot, tho’ he had been but an unlucky
Captain, that they determined to fit out two ships at
his instance.” I wish I could adopt this view of what
happened. Unfortunately we know that the voyage had
already been decided upon, the ship selected, and the
command given to Woodes Rogers before Dampier
returned to England from the East. Woodes Rogers
was a member of a well-known Bristol family. The
merchants who made themselves responsible for the
undertaking were his friends, and to those of them who
were still alive on his return to England, he dedicated
his lively narrative,^ which is our principal authority for
the events of the voyage. Woodes Rogers had pro-
pounded a definite scheme, and got it accepted, before
Dampier appeared in the matter at all. What Harris
may have had in mind was a passage in another account
of this voyage (the only other one we possess) written
by Captain Edward Cooke, who was second-in-command
on the “ Duchess,” under Woodes Rogers. Cooke,
speaking of the origin of the voyage, refers to Dampier’s
recent failure to take the “ Manila or Acapulco ship,”

^ Dr. John Harris, D.D., F.R.S, author of A Complete Collection of
Voyages and Travels. London : 1744.

® A Cruising Voyage Round the World. By Captain Woodes Rogers.
London, 1712.

2o6

WILLIAM DAMPIER

and adds : ■ “ But the said Captain Dampier never gave
over the project till he had prevailed with some able
persons at Bristol to venture upon an undertaking which
might turn to a prodigious advantage.” The truth
seems to be that what Dampier did was to advise the
captain and owners as to the objectives to be aimed at,
the general direction and strategy of the voyage. That
was his sole share in the preliminary organization. It
must have occupied a good deal of his time ; and, as
he was only in England eight or nine months, it probably
accounts for the hurried, clumsy style of his Vindication^
which he then wrote in reply to Funnell, whose book
had just appeared.

As to the post which Woodes Rogers offered him —
that of pilot — there is no reason to suppose that he felt
in any way degraded by having to accept it. Woodes
Rogers was his friend (for it may be presumed that this
is the “ Captain Rogers ” several times referred to in
Dampier’s writings), and it was no uncommon thing at
that time for one who had held chief command to sail
afterwards in a minor capacity. There were altogether
five captains on these two ships, three on the “ Duke,”
and two on the “ Duchess.” The composition of the
crews is interesting. They had more than double the
number of officers usual in privateers, and Woodes
Rogers explains that he arranged this on purpose “ to
prevent mutinies, which often happen in long voyages,
and that we might have a large provision for a succession
of officers in each ship, in case of mortality.” Here is
Woodes Rogers’s list of the officers of the “ Duke ” ;

“ Woodes Rogers, Captain, a Mariner ; Thomas Dover,
a Doctor of Physick, second Captain, President of our
Council, and Captain of the Marines ; Carleton Van-
brugh, Merchant, now our Owner’s Agent ; Robert
Fry, a Mariner, chief Lieutenant ; Charles Pope, second

MAKES HIS LAST VOYAGE 207

Lieutenant ; Thomas Glendall, third Lieutenant ; John
Bridge, Master ; William Dampier, Pilot for the South
Seas, who had already been three times there and twice
round the world ; Alexander Vaughan, chief mate ;
Lane. Appleby, second mate ; John Babet, rated third
mate, but design’d Surgeon, if occasion ; he had been
Captain Dampier’s doctor, in his last unfortunate Voyage
round the World ; Samuel Hopkins, being Dr. Dover’s
Kinsman, and an Apothecary, was both an Assistant to
him, and to act as his Lieutenant if we landed a party
anywhere under his Command during the Voyage ;
George Underhill and John Parker, two young Lawyers,
design’d to act as Midshipmen ; John Vigor, a Refor-
mado to act as Captain Dover’s Ensign when ashore ;
Benj. Parsons and Howel Knethel, Midshipmen ;
Richard Edwards, Coxswain of the Pinnace, to receive
Midshipmen’s Pay ; James Wasse, Surgeon ; Charles
May, his mate ; John Lancy, Assistant ; Henry
Oliphant, Gunner, with eight Men called the Gunners’
crew ; Nath. Scorch, Carpenter ; John Jones, his Mate,
with three Assistants ; Giles Cash, Boatswain ; and
John Pillar, his Mate ; John Shepard, Cooper, with
two Assistants ; John Johnson, Thomas Young, Charles
Clovet and John Bowden, all four Quarter-Masters ;
John Finch, late wholesale oileman of London, now
Steward ; Henry Newkirk, Sailmaker ; Peter Vanden-
heude, Smith and Armourer ; William Hopkins, Ship’s
Corporal, Capt. Dover’s Sergeant, and Cook to the
Officers ; Barth. Burnes, Ship’s Cook.”

The two young lawyers who were “ design’d to act as
Midshipmen,” the “ Reformado,” who would be either
a volunteer or some officer who had been deprived of
his command, but retained his rank, and the “ whole-
sale oileman of London ” who — stirred by some prick-
ings of romance, no doubt — ^had turned ship’s steward,

208

WILLIAM DAMPIER

are unusual features of the list. As for Babet, the
Deputy-Surgeon, it is interesting to note that Dampier,
in his recently published Vindication^ had asserted that
only one of all his officers of the “ St. George ” had
stood by him when Funnell and the rest deserted with
the barque, and that one was the “ doctor ” — no. doubt
John Babet. It is pleasant to think that Dampier was
able to help him to further employment.

As for the men, one-third of them were foreigners
and the rest, in Woodes Rogers’s words, “ tailors,
tinkers, peddlars, fiddlers and haymakers ” — anything,
in fact, but seamen. Yet they seem to have taken very
kindly to the sailor’s way of life, for when the “ Duke ”
and “ Duchess ” put into Cork, their first port of call,
Woodes Rogers found his crew “ continually marrying ”
the girls on shore. He particvilarly mentions a Dane,
who was “ coupled by a Romish priest to an Irish
Woman, without understanding a word of each other’s
language, so that they were forced to use an interpreter.”
What struck Woodes Rogers as curious was that, when
they left Cork, “ this pair seemed more afflicted at the
separation than any of the rest.” “ The fellow continued
melancholy for several days ” ; whereas the others would
“ drink their cans of flip ” (a sort of hot punch made of
beer and spirits) to the last moment, and then “ part
unconcerned.”

They had sailed from Bristol on August 2nd, 1708,
Woodes Rogers himself being on the “ Duke,” a ship
of 320 tons, carrying 30 guns and 117 men ; and
Captain Stephen Courtney commanding the “ Duchess,”
which was of 260 tons, 26 guns and 108 men. But on
neither of these crowded ships, says Woodes Rogers,
were there more than twenty real sailors. However he
was nothing if not an optimist, and he looked to get some
useful hands in Cork. On the way there he gave a
taste of his quality by administering a sound thrashing

MAKES HIS LAST VOYAGE

2og

to an incompetent local pilot, who had sought to lead
them into the wrong bay. At Cork there seems to have
been something like a rush to join the ships, for Captain
Cooke in his book gives their nximbers upon leaving
that port as 170 men on the “ Duke,” and 151 on the
“ Duchess.” Indeed Woodes Rogers says that they were
“ pestered ” with applications. It may be noted here
that genuine privateering (as distinguished from piracy)
was now a more paying proposition than it had been
when Dampier sailed in the “ St. George,” for an Act of
Parliament had been passed abolishing the Government’s
share of one-fifth of the prize money, and transferring
whole interest to the owners and crew.

On the morning of September ist, they sailed from
Cork in company with H.M.S. “ Hastings ” and a
convoy of about twenty merchantmen. At first there
was considerable confusion on board, “as is usual in
privateers at setting out,” but Woodes Rogers quickly
restored things to order. On the 5th he and Courtney
assembled their crews, and for the first time disclosed to
them the ambitious design of the voyage, from which
they could hardly expect to return in less than three
years. It must have been a shock to some of them,
but Woodes Rogers had a great “ way with him,” On
board the “ Duke ” there was no protest of any kind,
“ except from one fellow who expected to have been
tything-man that year in his parish, and said his wife
would be obliged to pay forty shillings in his absence :
but seeing all the rest willing he was easily quieted, and
all hands drank to a good voyage.”

So far, so good, but Woodes Rogers now found himself
in a difficult position. He knew he must encounter cold
weather in rounding Cape Horn ; but as none of his
men had been aware of his true destination, they were
“ but meanly clad ” for such a voyage. There are two
methods of keeping sailormen warm off the Horn : by

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WILLIAM DAMPIER

giving them warm clothes or by strong liquor ; and as
Woodes Rogers shrewdly remarks, “ Good liquor to
sailors is preferable to clothing.” But in this case the
stock of liquor also was running low. It was a question,
therefore, whether it would not be advisable to put in to
Madeira — a name of high standing in this connection
— before proceeding any farther, and there procure
such a supply of the generous wines of that country
as would ensure that the shivering crews would at
any rate feel warm inside when they reached the colder
latitudes.

Woodes Rogers therefore called a committee meeting
of officers on board the “ Duke ” ; and as this is the
first of those discussions, of which we shall hear so much
before we have done with this voyage, it is necessary to
say a word about the somewhat unusual “ constitution ”
which had been drawn up, with the owners’ approval,
before the vessels sailed. In that document it was laid
down that all “ attempts, attacks and designs upon the
enemy ” should first be discussed in committee of the
officers, and the same applied to all “ discontents, differ-
ences or misbehaviour.” Woodes Rogers, though a
notably masterful man who cannot have enjoyed being
contradicted, carried the principle even further than this.
On all important occasions he would call a committee
meeting ; and even when nothing particular was happen-
ing he would sometimes assemble his officers and get
them to sign a kind of general testimonial, stating that
they agreed with everything that had been done up to
date. He declares that without this rather tedious
method of procedure “ we could never have performed
the voyage,” and, remembering the intractability of most
crews at that time, we can weU believe it.

Dampier’s signature appears under the minutes of
practically every meeting, and it is clear that his great
experience made him one of the most valuable members

MAKES HIS LAST VOYAGE

2II

of the committee. He may sometimes have reflected
upon the contrast between Woodes Rogers’s breezy tact
and his own methods on such occasions — ^which, accord-
ing to Welbe of the “ St. George,” had consisted of
setting forth his own opinion at the outset, and losing
his temper when anyone disagreed with it. One happy
result of these everlasting meetings on the “ Duke ”
was that they effectually precluded the appearance of
such books as Funnell’s and Welbe’s, for the commander
was armed with the written approval of the officers for
almost everything he had done. As for the discussion
about the Madeira wines, it is perhaps hardly necessary
to say that the decision was made in their favour ; but
I give the minutes of the committee meeting here in
full, as a typical example of how this most democratic
voyage was conducted ;

“ At a Committee held on Board the ‘ Duke ’ Frigate,
resolv’d by the General Consent of the following
Persons :

That hath the Ships ‘ Duke ’ and ‘ Duchess ’ do touch at
Madera to make a larger Provision of Liquors.^ the better
to carry on our long Undertakings being but meanly stor'd
for so large a Number of Men as are in both Ships ; and
in case of separation between this Place and Madera^ then
to meet at the island St. Vincents one of the Cape de V erd
Islands, to wood and water our Ships. But if we miss of
one another at that Island, or that the first Ship finds it
inconvenient for stopping, then to proceed to Praia on St.
Jago, another of the same Islands ; to wait at both these
islands fourteen days ; And then, if the missing Ship does
not appear, the other to proceed to the Isle of Grande in
Latitude 23 deg. 30 w. S. on the Coast of Brazil, there to
wait three Weeks ; and then if we don't meet, let the
Single Ship proceed on the Voyage, according to the Orders

212

WILLIAM DAMPIER

given from our Owners : This is our Opinion this ^th day
of September, 1708.

Thos. Dover, President
Stephen Courtney
W ooDES Rogers
Edward Cooke
William Dampier
Robert Frye

So they steered for Madeira, and on the way overtook a
Swedish ship, which they strictly examined for contra-
band. Some of the crew, who were deplorably drunk,
told the Englishmen that there was gunpowder on
board ; but no one could find it, so they let the Swede
go ; and her master gave Woodes Rogers two hams and
some “ rufft dry’d Beef,” and “ I gave him a dozen
Bottles of Red-Streak Cyder.”

While this pleasant exchange was being made, the
first mutiny broke out on board the “ Duke.” We, who
have had to listen to so much criticism of Dampier,
should note that Woodes Rogers was then only eleven
days out from Cork ! He had taken his crew into his
confidence, and they had heartily approved the design
of his voyage ; he was about to put into Madeira for the
express purpose of getting on board a stock of the
liquor which they loved ; all the omens were propitious ;
and they chose this moment to mutiny — ^apparently
because they wanted him to make a prize of this neutral
Swedish ship. One sailor was whipped, ten put in irons,
“ some begged my pardon, and others I was forced to
wink at,” says Woodes Rogers. Woodes Rogers
assembled the rest of the men, and “ laboured to con-
vince them ” that it would have been a mistake to behave
like pirates at the very outset of their voyage. The
boatswain, Giles Cash, who had been the leader of the

Charles Pope
Carleton Vanbrugh
Tho. Glendall
John Bridges
John Babet.”

MAKES HIS LAST VOYAGE 213

mutineers, was degraded ; and when a deputation of
seamen came to the Captain to plead for him, Woodes
Rogers’s reply was to send him on board another
English ship, the “ Crown ” galley, which had been
accompanying them, for removal to England.

The wind being contrary, they passed Madeira, and
cruised among the Canary Islands. Here they took a
Spanish prize, and extorted ransom from the town of
Oratava, in the form of brandy and wine. Vanbrugh,
the agent, here began to show himself as the nuisance
that he was. He insisted upon going ashore, against
his Captain’s orders, and was of course arrested, and had
to be exchanged against the prisoners from the Spanish
prize. Sailing away for South America, much encour-
aged by their new stock of liquor, they crossed the Line
on September 25th. Here the greenhorns were ducked
from the yard-arm in the customary ceremonial manner,
and Woodes Rogers remarks that it “ approved of great
use to our fresh water sailors, to recover the colour of
their skins, which were grown very black and nasty.”
Calling at the Cape Verde Islands, Courtney and Woodes
Rogers were annoyed to find the men selling their
clothes (the few that they had) to the negroes for mere
“ trifles.” The practice was immediately prohibited.

On October 8th, while still at anchor among the
islands, Woodes Rogers held an important committee
meeting on board the “ Duchess,” at which the delicate
question of “ plunder ” was considered. The privateers-
man’s code distinguished between captured property,
which clearly belonged to the owners, and loot or
” plunder ” of a more personal and accidental character,
which was commonly divided among the men on the
spot. There had been so much grumbling and squab-
bling about the Spanish prize already taken that Woodes
Rogers now found it necessary to modify his “ constitu-
tion ” with the owners, so as to give the men’s predatory

314 WILLIAM DAMPIER

instincts more scope. He drew up a scale of shares,
from himself down to the humblest sailor, which effec-
tually restored the temper of his crews, though the
owners lost something by it. He also offered a reward
of twenty pieces of eight to the first man who should
sight a valuable prize. And, having done this, he set
sail once more across the ocean for Trinidad. ^

On the way there was another mutiny, this time on
the “ Duchess.” The leader was a truculent individual
named William Page, one of the mates. Courtney came
on board the “ Duke ” to see Woodes Rogem about it,
and it was decided to remove Page from the “ Duchess,”
in exchange for Babet, Dampier’s old friend. But when
these orders were conveyed to Page, he refused to^ budge,
whereupon the dignified Captain Cooke, second-in-com-
mand, lost his temper and went for him, and “ several
blows passed.” ^ Eventually the man, after jumping
overboard and otherwise behaving like a lunatic, was
lashed to the main jears on the “ Duke,” and heartily
“ drubbed.” After which they put him in irons and

left him. , ^ • j j i

Finding themselves unable to fetch Trinidad, they

bore away for the island of Grande in Brazil. When
the land came in sight, they sent Dampier off in the
pinnace to find the entrance to the bay, and he returned
presently and piloted them in. He also brought a large
turtle— an unfamiliar delicacy to most of those on board.
England and Portugal being at this time friends, and
the French and Spaniards the enemies of both, jt was
decided to remain for some time at this Brazilian island,
in order to repair their ships, especially the “ Duchess,”
which was in a bad way and needed to be “ heeled both
sides.” They had been in the Bay only a few hours,

1 Cooke, in his solemn, conscientious account of the voyage, says not
a word of this incident, of which he was probably ashamed. But,
his is a dull book— -though useful occasionally for matters of fact.

MAKES HIS LAS'l VUYALxJi zij

when Courtney had to put eight of his men in irons for
refusing to obey orders ; and a night or two later two
of his men ran away, but, wandering about the woods
in the darkness, “ were so frightened with Tygers, as
they thought, but really by Monkeys and Baboons, that
they ran into the Water hollowing to the Ship, till they
were fetched aboard again.” Undeterred by this, two
Irish “ landmen ” ran away from the “ Duke ” on the
following day, but were found by the “ Duchess’s ” boats,
which had gone ashore for water, and brought back
under guard. Woodes Rogers had them “ severely
whipped and put in irons.” After that discipline really
did seem to improve.

The ships were now ready to leave their hospitable
Portuguese island ; but before doing so, Woodes Rogers
went with all his officers to the little town of Angre de
Reys to pay a formal visit to the Governor, Sefior
Raphael de Silva Lagos, who received them “ very hand-
somely.” It happened to be a saint’s day, and the
occasion of a great religious procession through the
town ; and the Governor at once asked his English
guests if they would like to be present at the ceremonies.
“ We told him,” says Woodes Rogers, “ our religion
differed very much from his ” ; but he waived all their
objections aside, and insisted upon their joining in the
church service and the subsequent procession. Nothing
loath, the English officers, who had just had an excellent
dinner, rose from their chairs and sallied out. In the
street they collected their ship’s band, which they had
fortunately brought ashore with them from the “ Duke,”
and it was immediately proposed that the English band
should perform a few musical interludes during the
service, and should head the great procession to the
church. The scene that followed is one of the most
remarkable in all the picturesque annals of the privateers.
It also illustrates two of Woodes Rogers’s special gifts —

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WILLIAM DAMPIER

his popularity with all sorts and conditions of men, and
his gift of vivid narrative. He writes :

" Our Musick play’d, Hey Boys up go we ! and all manner
of noisy paltry Tunes ; and after Service our Musicians,
who were by that time more than half drunk, march’d
at the head of the Company, next to them an old Father
and two Fryars carrying Lamps of Incense with the
Host, next came the Virgin Mary on a Bier carry’d on
four Men’s shoulders and dress’d with Flowers and Wax
Candles etc. After her came the Padre Guardian of
the Convent, and then about forty Priests, Fryars etc.
Next was the Governor of the Town, myself and Capt.
Courtney with each of us a long Wax Candle lighted :
Next followed the rest of our Officers, the chief Inhabit-
ants and junior Priests, with everyone a lighted Wax
Candle. The Ceremony held about two hours, after
which we were splendidly entertained by the Fathers of
the Convent.”

What a scene under the palm trees and the tropical
sky ! They stayed the night in Angre de Reys, and
next day returned to their ships, taking with them the
Governor and “ Gentlemen of the town ” (there can’t
have been many, for there were only sixty houses in all).
The Canary wine was brought out, and the greatest
cordiality prevailed. The guests “ were very merry, and
in their cups proposed the Pope’s health to us ; but we
were quits with ’em by toasting that of the Archbishop
of Canterbury ; to keep up the Humour, we also pro-
posed William Penn’s to them : and they liked the
liquor so well that they refused neither.”

On the 3rd December, in the afternoon, the two
privateers weighed anchor, and set sail from the pleasant
island of Grande on their long voyage round the Horn
to Juan Fernandez. Before starting they held a com-

MAKES HIS LAST VOYAGE

217

mittee meeting and removed Vanbrugh from the position
of owners’ agent on the “ Duke.” He had been up to
his tricks again. Without the slightest provocation, he
had ordered the men to fire at an Indian canoe, whereby
one of the unfortunate natives was killed, and this was
the kind of offence that Woodes Rogers never forgave.
They had a terrible passage round the Horn, and the
“ Duchess ” was at one time in considerable danger.
When the weather had somewhat abated, Woodes Rogers
took Dampier with him in a boat and went aboard his
consort to see how she fared. She had shipped a great
deal of water, and her men were soaked to the skin ; and
since it was now so cold that they expected at any
moment to encounter icebergs, their sufferings must
have been terrible. But Captain Courtney already had
their clothes out drying on the rigging, and by getting
some of his guns down into the hold he had succeeded
in making his ship more “ lively,” so that she did better
after this. But everyone was glad when Juan Fernandez
came in sight on January 31st.

Here occurred one of the most memorable incidents
of the voyage — the rescue of Alexander Selkirk. Cooke’s
account is here a useful supplement to his commander’s
livelier narrative. The afternoon was already well
advanced when they sent in a boat to look for a suitable
anchorage. The men were pulling in towards the land
in the failing light, the island looming up dim and
mountainous before them, when those in the ship per-
ceived a fire among the trees ; and Woodes Rogers,
not unnaturally jumping to the conclusion that there
must be Spaniards about (with their ships perhaps out
of sight behind some headland), recalled his boat by
signal. We can guess what must have been the feelings
of the unhappy Selkirk, who had, of course, lit this fire
as a signal to the English ship — ^the first he had seen for
four and a half years !

2i8 william DAMPIER

Next morning, however, they stood in closer and sent
in another boat, which discovered no enemies, but a
solitary person running wildly about the beach, “ with
a white ensign ” which he waved to attract their atten-
tion. “ He was clothed,” says Cooke, “ in a goatskin
jacket, breeches and cap, sewed together with thongs of
the same.” They called to him to show them a good
place for anchorage, and he gave them directions in a
strange, stumbling voice, “ and then ran along the shore
in sight of the boat, so swiftly that the native goats
could not have outstripped him.” When they had seen
the place, they invited him into the boat, that he might
return to the ship with them, but “ he first enquired
whether a certain officer that he knew was aboard ; and
hearing that he was would rather have chosen to remain
in his solitude than come away with him, till informed
that he was not in command.” Cooke is too tactful to
give this officer’s name. It may have been Dampier (I
do not know whether he was in the boat at the time),
and certainly, if Selkirk was referring only to the officers
of the “ St. George ” and the “ Cinque Ports,” there
was no other who would be likely to be “ in command ”
on this occasion — ^though there were others, such as
John Babet, who had sailed in the earlier voyage. On
the other hand, Dampier appeared now as Selkirk’s
friend, praising him highly to Woodes^ Rogers and
describing him as the best man on Stradling’s ship, so
that, as we shall see, the castaway was presently promoted
to be second mate of the “Duke.” There is other
evidence, too, that Selkirk was on friendly terms with
Dampier. In fact, we are left guessing.

Lieutenant Fry, who was in the boat, stepped ashore,
and at Selkirk’s invitation, followed him along a circuitous
and “ uncouth ” path over the rocks, until they “ came
at last into a pleasant spot of ground, full of grass and
furnished with trees, where he aaw two small huts.

THE ISLAND OF JUAN FERNANDEZ

(Showing the tents used hy Anson when he znsited the island, during his voyage round the world)

MAKES HIS LAST VOYAGE

219

indifferently built, the one being the lodging room and
the other the kitchen.” This is from Cooke. Woodes
Rogers says : “ In the lesser hut, at some distance from
the other, he dressed his victuals, and in the larger he
slept and employed himself in reading, singing Psalms
and praying, so that he said he was a better Christian
while in this Solitude than ever he was before, or than,
he was afraid, he should ever be again.”

Selkirk told Fry that at first he had been able to
eat nothing, owing to the absence of salt, but afterwards
subsisted on seals and “ other fish,” until he had become
so hard and nimble that he could run barefoot over the
rocky ground at a speed which enabled him to catch
the wild goats for his dinner. Not wishing to deplete
the stock, he had kept a record of his kills, which showed
that he had eaten five hundred goats altogether in the
four and a half years of his stay. The goats, of course,
were a legacy from some previous visit by a European
ship ; so were the innumerable rats which kept him
awake at night, “ gnawing at his feet ” ; and the cats
which he fed and encouraged so that they might rid
him of the rats ; also the turnips and parsnips, some of
which had originally been sown there by Dampier’s
men. They got him back to the boat and off to the
ship, where he was received by the Commander.

Woodes Rogers was keenly interested. At first, he
says, “ we could scarce understand him, for he seemed
to speak his words by halves.” What astonished the
privateers even more, he refused “ a dram ” when it
was offered to him, “ having drank nothing but water
since his being there.” There was much eager con-
versation on the quarter-deck, as their uncouth guest
stood before them ; and “ Captain Dampier tells of a
Mosquito Indian that lived here three years alone and
shifted much in the same manner as Mr. Selkirk did,
till Captain Dampier came hither in 1684 and carried

220

WILLIAM DAMPIER

him off.” ^ I think Woodes Rogers and Dampier must
have gone ashore with Selkirk the next day, for the
former gives us many details of “ Robinson Crusoe’s ”
life on the island — ^how when the Spaniards came to the
place, he hid in the trees and waited till they had gone
(there was no “ Man Friday ”) ; how he had “ tamed
some kids, and to divert himself would now and then
sing and dance with them and his cats ” ; and of how
they tested his fleetness of foot by bringing ashore the
ship’s bulldog and setting it to race against him, when
Selkirk always “ tired ” the dog. The whole incident
of Selkirk’s rescue is one which would have been memor-
able in any case. It is doubly interesting to-day as
showing us so plainly the principal source of Defoe’s
immortal story.

The “ Governor ” of Juan Fernandez, as Rogers nick-
named Selkirk, was now set to catch a plentiful supply
of goats ; and with this diet of fresh meat, with turnips
and parsnips, the men soon began to recover from the
effects of their long journey round the Horn. The
ships, too, were repaired, and on the 12th February,
the little squadron set sail northward for the coasts of
Chile and Peru, Selkirk having been installed as mate
on the “ Duke.” Their main objective now was the
Manila ship, and Woodes Rogers took the opportunity
of a sudden calm to call his officers on board the “ Duke ”
for another committee meeting on the subject of plunder.
He had conceived the idea of appointing a representative
of the men on each ship, to share with an officer the
duty of distribution ; and this was accordingly done.

They cruised along the coast till the 12th April,
taking several prizes. One of these was unlucky, for
there exists among the State Papers a petition addressed
to Queen Anne in 1710 or 1711 by the merchant
owners of Bristol, appealing for efforts to be made to
^ See pages 102-3.

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secure the exchange or release of Simon Hatley, mate of
the “ Duchess,” and other members of a prize crew,
who, going on shore for provisions, had been caught
by the Spaniards and thrown into Lima prison, “ where
they now are, together with several others of your
Majesty’s subjects formerly belonging to ships under
Captain Dampiere’s command.” Hatley had succeeded
in smuggling a letter out of prison to his owners. This
letter, which is dated November 6, 1709, concludes as
follows : “ Some of our countrymen that were here
before we came, they have made turn their religion.
We live a sorrowful life among them, and always plagued
by the Fathers, putting us in irons and in the dungeon
to make us turn, but we are resolved to dye first. I and
one more they have had to the gallows, hanged until we
were almost strangled before they cutt us down, this is
what offers from, Gentlemen, your most humble Servant,
Simon Hatley.”

Woodes Rogers now decided that, while waiting for
the sailing of the Manila galleon, they could not occupy
their time better than by an attack on the important
town of Guayaquil, which seems to have been a favourite
objective with the English privateers. Anchoring among
the palm-clad islands at the mouth of the river, as
Dampier had done so many years before, they held a
meeting, and, according to their own peculiar custom,
drew up an elaborate set of regulations for the attack on
shore. Cooke says that “ a dispute arising who should
command in chief ashore, at length it was agreed that
Captain Rogers and Captain Courtney should each of
them command a company of seamen, and Captain
Dover a company of the land-men ; that Captain Dover
should give the word the first night, and the other two
captains in their turns.” This clumsy arrangement seems
to have worked fairly well. It was carefully explained
to the men, who by now were spoiling for a fight.

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WILLIAM DAMPIER

On the 15th they intercepted a French-built ship from
Lima, which was re-christened the “ Marquis,” and
placed under the command of Cooke. On board of her
they found 500 bales of Papal Bulls, 1 6 reams in a bale,
and a quantity of bones in small boxes, “ ticketed with
the names of Romish saints, some of which had been
dead 7 or 800 years.” This was disappointing plunder
for a Protestant privateer, and Rogers threw most of it
overboard, “ to make room for better goods.” In the
meantime they “ rowed and towed ” up the river for
Guayaquil, and, landing at a village on the way, found
there letters to the local governor in which he was
warned that an English ship was at sea under the
redoubtable “ Captain Dampier.” As it happened,
Dampier had captured this very village on the occasion
of his last visit to Guayaquil.

Rogers immediately took measures to spread among
the local Indians an exaggerated version of the story of
a “ squadron ” under Dampier. He also saw that there
was no time to be lost. But when they arrived outside
Guayaquil, they found, as so many English invaders had
before them, that the alarm was already given. Beacons
were blazing on the hills, the bells of the town were
ringing, and volleys of musketry, fired blindly into the
night, conveyed a message of defiance from the inhabit-
ants. It was a question what to do next, and Dampier
was consulted. He said that the buccaneers “ never
attacked any large place after it was alarmed ” — he
must surely have meant that they never did so without
regretting it ! — and Captain Dover agreeing with him,
it was decided to remain in their boats in the river, and
send a messenger to the town demanding ransom.

It is hard to believe that Dampier can have favoured
this latter course, which he had so strongly opposed on
former occasions. In the present instance, the usual
result followed : the Spaniards prevaricated while they

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strengthened their defences. But Woodes Rogers was
not to be trifled with. At the appointed hour he
suddenly broke off negotiations, and with seventy men
landed and attacked the town. The Spanish gunners,
with more resolution than they usually displayed, stuck
to their pieces till the English were “ within pistol shot.”
One of them, an Irishman, continued firing even then,
till he fell covered with wounds ; but their shooting
must have been extraordinarily erratic, for only two were
killed on the English side. Dampier was now put in
charge of the guns, and he quickly turned them on the
streets of the town, which were soon emptied of all but
the English.

It was, in fact, a handsome victory. And the best of
it was that the Spaniards presently changed their minds
about the ransom, and, rather than see their city ruined,
sent Rogers a lump sum of thirty thousand pieces of
eight. With which he and his merry men marched
down to their boats again, with colours flying and
trumpets sounding cheerfully. On their way down the
river, they looted several houses on the banks, and it
was at one of these that “ Mr. Sellkirk, the late Governor
of Juan Fernandez,” distinguished himself by his excep-
tionally “ civil behaviour.” For being sent, with a Mr.
Connely, to search some charming young ladies who
were suspected of having hidden jewellery under their
clothes, he performed the task with such modesty as to
occasion the fair captives “ no uneasiness nor surprise.”
As Selkirk and Connely were both ” young men,”
Woodes Rogers expresses the hope that “ the Fair Sex
will make ’em a grateful return when we arrive in Great
Britain.”

As all the “ houses up the river were full of women,”
and “ every pair of legs was spiralled with necklaces and
gold chains,” the privateers added considerably to their
wealth before they got out to sea. Snuff-boxes, jewelled

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224

sword-hilts, plate, silks and laces must have made a gay-
display in the cabin, when the appointed representatives
of the officers and of the seamen assembled there to
value the spoil. Already Dampier must have felt that
this was a more promising voyage than any with which
he had recently been associated.^ There was only one
fly in the ointment : the fatal miasma from the river
marshes had proved more dangerous than the Spanish
guns, and some kind of malignant fever was knocking
the English sailors down like ninepins ; so that it was
decided to make for the island of Gorgona (off the coast
of Colombia) and try a change of diet and of air, before
cruising for the Manila ship. Courtney was taken ill,
and Dover “ went on board the ‘ Duchess ’ to prescribe
for him.”

The next excitement was a rumour that the Spanish
prisoners and the negroes on board were plotting to
“ murder the English and run away with the ship in the
night.” Woodes Rogers examined the Spaniards, who
strenuously denied it. Some of the negroes owned to
a vague knowledge of a plot, but not till they had been
threatened with torture to make them speak. On June
13th, 1709, they anchored off Gorgona, and settled down
for a longish stay while they recovered their healths, and
refitted their prize, the “ Marquis.” Woodes Rogers
remarks that “ Captain Dampier has been here several
times, but never rode where we did, which is the best
and only good road in the island.” Dampier, at this
time, appears to have been on board the “ Duchess.”
“ My pilot Dampier forsook me,” says Woodes Rogers,
though for what reason is not clear. Among their
prisoners “ was a gentlewoman and her family,” including
an eldest daughter, “ a pretty young woman of about

^ When they reached the island of Gorgona, Cooke “ reckoned the
value we had then aboard for the owners in gold, plate and jewels
amounted to about £20,000 and in goods £60,000.”

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225

eighteen,” who was newly married, and had with her
her husband, who “ showed evident marks of jealousy,
the Spaniard’s epidemic disease.” So Woodes Rogers,
with a touch of humour, put them in charge of his third
lieutenant, Glendall, “ for being above fifty years of age,
he appeared to be the most secure guardian to females.”

On the 7th August, they sailed from the island in
search of the Manila ship.. They set their Spanish
prisoners ashore on the mainland ; but Woodes Rogers
assembled the negroes, and, after offering them their
freedom if they would agree to fight for him, “32 of
them immediately promised to stand to it as long as the
best Englishmen, and desired they might be improved in
the use of arms.” After which they drank the inevitable
“ dram ” all round. A few days later, a sham fight
was staged between the “ Duke ” and the “ Duchess,”
the latter flying Spanish colours for the occasion. And
everyone, from the captains down to the humblest fore-
mast hand, “ acted the same part he ought to have done
in earnest, firing with ball excepted.” Even the surgeons
had “ patients ” in the hold, splashed with red lead and
water to simulate blood. The negroes must have been
vastly edified by this “ agreeable diversion,” as Woodes
Rogers calls it.

As things turned out, they had plenty of time for
martial exercises, for the Manila ship persistently failed
to come in sight.^ More agreements about “ plunder ”
were drawn up, and a painful example was made of
“ one of the ‘ Duchess’s ’ black nymphs,” who had
proved to be a lady of easy virtue. “ This I mention,”
says Woodes Rogers, “ to satisfy the censorious that we
don’t countenance lewdness, and that we took those
women aboard only because they spoke English and

^ The great treasure galleon had not been captured by an Englishman
since Thomas Cavendish took it in the year 1587. The next success
after Woodes Rogers’s was to be that of Anson in 1743.

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WILLIAM DAMPIER

begged to be admitted for laundresses, cooks and seam-
stresses.” This particular negress was whipped at the
capstan. In the course of their wanderings, they sailed
over the very spot where Dampier had unsuccessfully
engaged the Manila ship in the “ St. George,” and our
hero was in frequent consultation with the other captains.
Once or twice we find him at fault as to their exact
whereabouts, but Woodes Rogers adds that he could
always be relied upon to recognize a place when he got
ashore. His transfer to the “ Duchess ” seems to have
caused no ill-feeling. On one of the islands of the
Marias group Dampier found a human skull, which he
told Woodes Rogers must belong to an unfortunate
Indian, who, with one companion, was left there by
Swan in 1685 ; “for victuals being scarce with these
buccaneers, they would not carry the poor Indians any
farther, but after they had served their turns left them
to make a miserable end on a desolate island.” The
long wait began to affect the men’s behaviour, and regula-
tions were passed which “ prohibited all playing at cards
or dice ” aboard the ships.

On the 20th December, they were cruising off Cape
St. Lucas, the southernmost point of California. Every-
one was feeling “ melancholy and dispirited ” ; for all
hope of intercepting the treasure ship had been for the
moment abandoned, and the committee had already
passed a resolution to steer for the island of Guacu and
replenish their stock of food, which was running low.
The “ Marquis ” had put into an adjacent harbour to
refit for the voyage. This was the position, when, at about
9 o’clock in the morning, “ to our great and joyful
surprise . . . the man at the masthead cried out he saw
a sail, bearing west half south of us, distant about
7 leagues.” The “ Duke ” immediately hoisted her
ensign, and bore away in pursuit, the “ Duchess ” fol-
lowing. For a long time they were in doubt as to

MAKES HIS LAST VOYAGE 227

whether this was indeed their prey, for the wind dropped,
and there was a dead calm all the rest of that day.
However, Woodes Rogers sent off an armed pinnace,
which approached near to the chase, and returned to
him in the evening with the news that this was no other
than the Manila ship — though, as it turned out after-
wards, not the “ admiral,” but his consort, of slightly
smaller size.

Two pinnaces were sent to “ tend her all night, and
keep showing false fires so that we might know where-
abouts they and the chase was.” And at daybreak, the
“ Duke ” being now close up, Woodes Rogers “ ordered
a large Kettle of Chocolate to be made for our ship’s
company (having no spirituous liquor to give them) ;
then we went to Prayers, and before we had concluded
were disturbed by the Enemy’s firing at us.” After all,
it was a short and sharp engagement. The “ Duchess ”
was to leeward, and having little wind, could not come
up, but the “ Duke ” poured in broadside after broad-
side, with volleys from the small arms, to which the
Spaniards replied, “ but did not ply their great guns
half so fast as we.” Finally, just as the “ Duchess ”
was coming into action, the “ Duke ” got across the
enemy’s bows, and began to rake her, whereupon she
hauled down her flag.

It was a great prize, the richest captured by any
English ship for many a long year. She was named the
“ Nuestra SeSora de la Encarnacidn Desengafio,” mount-
ing twenty guns and twenty swivels, and carrying 193
men. She had about twenty casualties, and the “ Duke ”
only two ; but of these one was Woodes Rogers himself,
who was shot through the left cheek, the bullet carrying
away part of his upper jaw, so that his teeth fell out
upon the deck. He continued to direct the action,
though he was unable to speak, and had to give his
orders in writing. That night he swallowed something

228

WILLIAM DAMPIER

which he believed to be part of his jaw-bone, and there-
after began to mend slowly, though he was in great
pain, and could take only liquid food and that with
difficulty. Yet the indomitable man continued to attend
committee meetings as though nothing had happened.

Of these there were more than usual, for there was a
certain amount of jealousy among the officers of the
“ Duchess ” and the “ Marquis ” as a result of the
“ Duke’s ” single-handed victory over the Manila ship.
Now that it was clear that there were really two of these
treasure galleons (a thing they had not expected), the
“Duchess” and the “ Marquis ” demanded the right
to go out alone in search of the other one. And this
they carried by resolution, in spite of the protests of
Woodes Rogers, who could only set his arguments down
in writing. Dampier, as an officer of the “ Duchess,”
voted with the rest. The condition of Woodes Rogers’s
health may have been a leading consideration with those
who voted against him ; but it is clear that he took the
adverse decision very much to heart.

So the “ Duke,” with her wounded commander,
remained in harbour, while the “ Duchess ” and the
“ Marquis ” put out to sea again to find the Manila
“ admiral.” Their luck held. On Christmas Day,
very early in the morning, when only a few hours out,
they sighted a big Spanish galleon, and crowded on sail
to overtake her. It was about 2 a.m. and still dark.
The “ Marquis ” was a “ cranky ” sailer, and the
“ Duchess ” was the first to come up with the chase.
Cooke, from his position in the “ Marquis,” gives an
admirable account of what he could see of the fight.
Staring out through the darkness, he could observe the
flash of the guns and hear their roar, but could not
determine what was happening. Towards dawn the
noise of battle subsided, but an occasional shot indicated
that the Spaniard had not yet surrendered. As a matter

MAKES HIS LAST VOYAGE

229

of fact, Courtney, in the “ Duchess,” had been compelled
to draw off to repair his damaged masts and rigging.

In the grey morning light they saw the Spaniard’s
yellow flag, and recognized her for the “ admiral ” of
the Manila fleet, and a hoarse cheer burst from their
throats as they strained every nerve to draw nearer to
the scene of action. At the same time, the “ Duke,”
with every sail set, was seen moving out from behind the
headland, coming to their assistance. Woodes Rogers
also had heard their guns and seen lights out at sea ;
and though he was still unable to speak, and his ofiicers
had urged him to stay behind, he was now coming out
to take his share in the fight.

There was a small breeze from the E.S.E. and the
“ Marquis ” and “ Duchess ” crept slowly up to the
gigantic Spaniard, and began again to batter her sides.
“ Our ships,” says Cooke, “ looked like small barks to
the enemy.” They sailed round and round her, pouring
in volleys. The “ Marquis ” was the first to arrive,
and her men gave three lusty cheers before firing the
first broadside of the fight. The Spaniard’s decks were
now seen to be crowded with men, and she answered
them defiantly, so that the English began to suffer
severely in their masts and rigging. The Spanish
gunnery, as in the previous fight, was slow but accurate :
they had a ship of above nine hundred tons, equipped
with “ false decks ” to resist the round shot, and forty
guns of a heavier calibre than those of the privateers.
The “ Marquis,” indeed, had only eighteen guns, so
that, as Cooke remarks, “ if the enemy had fired at the
hull as he did at the mast and rigging, he must have
shattered us almost to pieces.” The “ Marquis ” and
the “ Duchess ” engaged her one after another all that
day, firing so many shots into her towering sides that
towards evening the “ Marquis ” began to run short of
ammunition, and fell astern with the “ Duchess ” in

WILLIAM DAMPIER

230

order to borrow a fresh supply. Cooke went on board
his consort, and found her “ much disabled in her masts
and rigging and seven men killed.” He and Courtney
agreed “ to yard-arm and yard-arm with the enemy in
the morning,” and further to fire guns at intervals all
night “ to annoy the enemy and to give the ‘ Duke ’
notice where we were, keeping out lights.”

While the two officers sat in conference in the cabin,
a boat arrived from the “ Duke ” asking for news.
Woodes Rogers was now close up with them, and he hints
pretty plainly in his book that, if he had been allowed
to accompany them in the beginning, the three ships
must have carried the Spaniard at the first attack, before
she had recovered from her surprise. With daylight
the desperate fight was renewed. Cooke says : “ Captain
Courtney in the ‘Dutchess’ stood close up, gave his
broadsides and volleys, and then ran ahead. The
‘ Marquis ’ coming up under her quarter did the like,
and the ‘ Duke ’ next performed the same along her lee
side. We kept raking of her, fore and aft, and then
wared to get out of the way of the ‘ Duke’s ’ shot, still
firing, as did the other ships.”

The ” Duke ” was unlucky — or else too impetuous —
for she got so close that the Spaniards were able to throw
their stinkpots on board — evil-smelling contrivances made
of saltpetre, sulphur, assafoetida, arsenic, sublimate of
mercury, and Goodness knows what else. One of them
exploded some gunpowder on the quarter-deck, causing
great havoc, and forcing the “ Duke ” to withdraw
temporarily from the fight. The “ Duchess ” also had
to lay by “ to stop her leaks and secure her foremast,
being much disabled,” with twenty-five casualties on
board. The “ Marquis ” carried on alone, and received
some stinkpots in her turn, which set part of the ship
afire (“ but we soon put it out ”) and got onto Cooke’s
fine clothes, so that “ I stank several days intolerably.”

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231

It must have been upsetting to that dignity of his !
When darkness fell, the three captains met on board the
“ Duke ” in anxious consultation. Woodes Rogers had
been wounded again, “ so that I could not stand, but
lay on my back in a great deal of misery, part of my
heel being struck out, and all under my ankle cut above
half through.”

Finally they called the inevitable committee meeting,
which decided that there was “ no probability ” of taking
this powerful ship, and that it was better to leave her and
” secure the prize we have already took.” So ended a
memorable sea-rfight. Cooke says that on the “ Marquis ”
alone “ we fired above 300 great shot, about 50 cross-
bars and 2 great chests of steel bars, beside abundance of
partridge small shot and above 9 barrels of powder.”
He has the grace to add that “ to give the enemy theii
due they defended themselves very well, but we migh
as well have fought a castle of fifty guns ” as this “ pro-
digious strong ” ship. It transpired afterwards that
there was a special crew of 600 men on board the
Spaniard, hurriedly recruited for the occasion, when it
was learned that the terrible Dampier was again in
those seas.

But the privateers were already rich, and under a less
energetic commander than Woodes Rogers (who made
a characteristically rapid recovery from his injuries) they
might well have felt that there was nothing more for
them to do. Even Woodes Rogers and Dampier clearly
regarded the circumnavigation of the globe, which they
were now about to complete (Dampier for the third
time) merely as the most convenient way of getting back
to England. Woodes Rogers frankly apologizes for
including in his book a brief description of “ this long
and tedious passage.” Dampier could have kept our
interest alive in his old effortless way ; but unfortunately
he had long ceased to make entries in his journal, and

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232

even he, if we may judge from his occasional appear-
ances in Woodes Rogers’s record, was as nearly bored
by the latter end of this voyage as by any he ever took
part in. '

They sailed first to the island of Guam, in the Ladrones,
and there Woodes Rogers displayed his accustomed tact
in getting upon almost as friendly terms with the local
Spaniards as he had with the Portuguese at Grande.
He entertained the Governor and leading residents on
the “ Duke ” with “ musick and our sailors dancing.”
But though they might dance on occasions, the men
were, in fact, “ fed up,” and their commander found
them more difficult to deal with than any Spaniards. In
a valiant attempt to cheer them up, he had ceremoniously
observed St. Valentine’s Day, drawing up “ a list of the
fair ladies in Bristol that were in any ways related to or
concerned in the ships,” and sending for the officers to
his cabin, where everyone drew a name “ and drank the
lady’s health in a cup of punch and to a happy sight of
’em all.”

But nothing could make up for the reduction in the
daily rations, which now became necessary, and we get
the impression that they sighted Guam only just in time.
From Guam they sailed to Batavia, stopping at several
islands and suppressing several mutinies among them-
selves on the way. At intervals the ship’s doctor would
perform operations on Woodes Rogers’s throat, re-
moving pieces of broken jaw-bone and “ musket-shots.”
Also “ I had several pieces of my foot and heel bone
taken out.” After refreshing themselves at Batavia,
they made sail across the Indian Ocean for the Cape of
Good Hope. They had sold the leaky “ Marquis ” to
an Englishman at Batavia, and were now only three
ships in company, the “ Duke ” and “ Duchess ” and
the captured Spanish galleon, which they had renamed
the “ Batchelor.” At the Cape, they waited from

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233

December 29th, 1710, to April 5th, 1711, and then
sailed with the regular Dutch convoy for Holland and
England. It was a wise move, considering the wealth
they had on board, and Rogers and Courtney must have
felt relieved when, having rounded the Shetlands, they
anchored safely in the Texel on the 23rd July. From
thence, after some delay, English men-of-war convoyed
them to the Downs, where they arrived on October 14th
after a voyage of more than three years.

CHAPTER XII

AND SLIPS HIS CABLE

IE cruise of the “ Duke ” and
“ Duchess ” was one of the most suc-
cessful ever undertaken by English
privateers. We can only hope that
the citizens of Bristol, who stood to
profit handsomely by it, gave Woodes
Rogers and his men a fitting reception
on their return. In money and goods,
the total value of the booty available for distribution is
stated to have reached the impressive figure of 170,000.
Of this, the Bristol merchants, who had financed the
voyage, took half, and there was a substantial allotment
(probably ;^i 4,000) to Woodes Rogers himself, who
now became a comparatively wealthy man. He formed
friendships with Sir Hans Sloane, Sir Robert Southwell
(to whom Dampier no doubt introduced him), and other
men of distinction, and in 1717 he was in a position
• to acquire by lease the quit-rents and royalties of the
Bahama Islands, of which he was made Governor in the
same year. His story of his voyage round the world
was published in 1712, and achieved a success only
second to that of Dampier’s books. Woodes Rogers
well deserved these rewards. His voyage, as has been
recently pointed out,^ was in many respects more note-

1 By Mr. G. E. Manwaring in his introduction to a new edition of
Woodes Rogers’s Cruising Voyage 'Round the IVorld (Cassell: 1928).
He adds that two large silver candlesticks taken on this voyage are now in
Bristol Cathedral.

CAPTAIN- WOODES ROGERS, WITH HIS SON AND DAUGHTER, I729
Prom the engravingby IF. Skelton njterthe pointing by Hogarth

SLIPS HIS CABLE

235

worthy even than Anson’s thirty years later ; for whereas
Anson was in command of six ships of the Royal Navy
and two victualling ships, all fitted out for him by the
Admiralty, and lost every one of them on the way,
except his flagship, Woodes Rogers brought both his
little privateers safely into their home port. We part
regretfully with this debonair commander. He was to
have many more adventures, and perform many dashing
exploits before his death in the Bahamas in 1732 ; but
none so completely successful and so deservedly famous
as this voyage in which Dampier piloted him round the
world. The two men, in fact, so different in gifts and
in character, made a remarkably fine combination.

But when all these prior claims had been satisfied,
there was still a large amount of prize-money left over
for distribution among the officers and men of the
“ Duke ” and “ Duchess.” Dampier’s share, we may
be quite certain, was more than sufiicient to have enabled
him to spend the few remaining years of his life in com-
fort. Unfortunately, he did not live to receive it. Before
the distribution was made, he had gone on the last of
all his voyages. Perhaps we may be allowed to express
the hope that this time it was not a “ warm ” one !

Until three years ago, the state of Dampier’s finances
after his retirement from the sea was a subject of contro-
versy. Many of his early biographers, who ought to
have known better, had hurriedly scratched in the
familiar pathetic picture of a grey-haired genius left to
die in a garret by his ungrateful country ; while others,
more conscientious, had replied by pointing out that
even if Dampier never actually handled his share of the
prize-money, he could surely, on so good a security,
have borrowed enough to keep him in reasonable
comfort for the remaining three and a half years of his
life. All this, however, was conjecture. But in 1925,
Dr. B. H. M. Rogers, to whose researches I have

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236

already referred/ sent a second communication to the
Manner’s Mirror (volume ii), in which he described a
further MS. document lent to him by Mr. Goldney, of
Corsham, which, when compared with certain papers in
the Library of Congress, Washington, provides a full
and apparently exhaustive statement of Dampier’s
financial position at this time. What is even more
important, it gives us a glimpse of his life, and indicates
why he now had to reside permanently in town.

The Goldney MS. consists of the report, dated May 9,
1719 (four years after Dampier’s death), of the Master
in Chancery who had been appointed to inquire into the
accounts of the voyage of the “ Duke ” and “ Duchess,”
and endeavour to arrive at an equitable, if somewhat
belated, settlement. These accounts had been the
subject of several law-suits by members of the crew and
others, and it is clear that the lawyers had been getting
their share, whoever else went begging. What Dampier
demanded was “ eleven shares equal in value with those
due to the ship’s company,” and a further “ i/i6th part
of the nett profits.” He also claimed interest on this
sixteenth part of the profits, to date from the day when
the owners had divided their portion among themselves
without including him. We do not know what the
eleven shares would be worth ; but we do know that
one-sixteenth of the net profits of this wonderful voyage
would be well over without including interest.

So that Dampier was asking for a substantial sum.

He did not get it. Nor did poor Grace Mercer, his
executrix and residuary legatee. Indeed the whole pur-
port of the report of the Master in Chancery is that he
has disallowed the executrix’s claims. He abruptly dis-
misses all suggestions of interest ; and he fails to find
“ any such agreement ” as is alleged by Dampier’s repre-
sentative in regard to the one-sixteenth part. He adds :

^ Page 201.

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237

“ The owners also offered before me to pay him
(Dampier) j^5oo more than he reed. [So he had received
something !] but said Dampier refused such offer unless
they paid him down ;^iooo.” We begin to perceive in
what manner Dampier spent the remaining years of his
life. It was a great age for litigation. The “ before
me ” indicates that both he and the owners’ solicitors
had been privately interviewed by the Master, with a
view to some composition, but that Dampier’s obstinacy
had made it impossible to settle out of Court. Like
many unbusinesslike people, who are careless about
money (though they may, on occasions, enjoy their
“ golden dreams ”), he could be stubborn enough when
he thought he was being cheated. We can see him
confronting the lawyers, his untidy hair about his eyes,
his head thrown back, his underlip more prominent than
ever. A thousand pounds or nothing 1 Nothing it was.

But we are not to suppose that Dampier never made
anything by the Woodes Rogers voyage. On the con-
trary, we find among these papers a schedule setting
forth the various payments made on account to Dampier
in the course of the voyage ; and the still larger sums
which he had received since the return to England.
This schedule is as follows :

Captn. Wm. Dampier
To

Cash reed, of Captn. Rogers
do. of Aid. Bachelor comm. .
Cloathes at Cork .

Cash etc. of Capt. Courtney
200 dolls at Batavia @ S/-
200 more at do @ 4/

Cash in Holland of Courtney .
6th part of (undecipherable)

Cash of Mr. Corsley

£ s- d.

45 o o
II 00
8 17 II
53 4 10
50 o o
40 o o

8 4
19 3
611 10 o

Carry forward . ;£82i 0 4

238

WILLIAM DAMPIER

Brought forward

Cash of Master
pd. Executrix of do.
plunder money
Agency money

0 4

500 0 o

20 0 0
656
400

Totle Mo. reed, per Damp. . ;^i35i 14

That is to say, something over a hundred pounds in the
early part of the voyage, ninety at Batavia, and eleven
hundred odd since the return to England — all this, of
course, to be set off against his claims.

At first sight it looks as though Dampier had been
having a gay time at Batavia — deliberately cutting a
dash, perhaps, in a part of the world where he had
previously been known as a needy adventurer. But we
find in Woodes Rogers’s narrative that there was a
general share-out of “ plunder ” at this port (Dampier
was one of the judges appointed to decide which part
of the cargo was “ plunder ” and which was the owners’
property), and also that an allotment of money was there
made to the officers, to enable them to equip themselves
for the homeward voyage, Courtney acting as treasurer.
Dampier’s share was two hundred pieces of eight.

What is quite clear is that he cannot, on this occasion,
have landed in England penniless, according to his
former habit ; and, further, that he drew about £,1200
from the owners (the Mr. Corsley, mentioned in the
schedule, was the owners’ solicitor) after his return. It
is, therefore, certain that he must, at any rate, have lived
like a gentleman during the remaining years of his life.

It is true, also, that, like most gentlemen of his period,
he died in debt. Another schedule attached to the
Master’s report gives details of his debts amounting to

^ I am aware that this does not add up quite correctly. The
arithmetic is that of the Master in Chancery.

SLIPS HIS CABLE

239

;^677 1 7s. id., most of it money borrowed on his “ expec-
tations ” from his friend, Edward Southwell, a certain
Capt. Humphreys, and others.^ But there is nothing
unusual in that, though it may have been a disappointing
legacy for Grace Mercer. Dampier had good reason
to suppose that he would presently be able to pay these
debts in full. Unfortunately, we have no evidence to
show that his executrix ever got another penny, beyond
the ;^2o mentioned in the schedule as having been paid
over to her.

He was not without other resources. The “ little
estate ” in the West Country which he had purchased
while in Jamaica, had probably been sold before the
voyage of the “ St. George.” Dampier was induced to
make a considerable personal contribution towards the
cost of that voyage, and in order to do so he had been
compelled to revoke certain financial arrangements which
he had made through his friend, Southwell, for the
support of his wife Judith ; so that Judith was left
with only his pay from the Customs while he was away.
It seems unlikely that he can then have possessed the
estate. On the other hand, there is no reason to suppose
that his salary from the Customs, which was in the
nature of a pension and had been paid uncomplainingly
by the Government during his two long absences, should
not have continued down to the day of his death. Judith,
his wife, was now dead, for by his last will he revoked
a previous bequest to her made at some date before
1703. His expenses as a widower would not be great,
since he apparently had no children.

Finally, there were his books, which were still selling
well. A second edition of the Voyage to New Holland
had appeared while he was away with Woodes Rogers,

^ Dr. Rogers is quite wrong in supposing these people to be professional
money-lenders. But one creditor, Capt. Richard Newton, held some of
Dampier’s furniture at the time of his death.

WILLIAM DAMPIER

240

while the New Voyage had reached its fifth edition in
1 703, and was to go into a sixth two years after he died.
Whatever arrangements he had made with Knapton, his
publisher, there must surely have been another source
of revenue here.

In September, 1714, three years after his return from
h is last voyage, Dampier celebrated his sixty-third birth-
day. He was not an old man as we reckon nowadays,
but his health had already broken down. Forty-two
years of seafaring in those hard times was about as much
as any man’s constitution could stand. He was living
in the parish of St. Stephen’s, Coleman Street, near Old
Jewry, and was apparently being looked after by his
cousin, Grace Mercer, to whom he left the greater part
of his property. It is typical of the difficulties con-
fronting the biographer of a man like Dampier that he
has told us nothing whatever about this cousin — the one
woman, besides his wife, who ever had anything to do
with his affairs. We may guess that she was the most
important female influence in his life — but we are only
guessing. That she had been with him for some time
is clearly stated in his will ; but whether that merely
means that his illness had been a long one we cannot
tell.

The old sailor’s health grew steadily worse, and on
November 29th he decided to make his last will and
testament, which may now be seen in Somerset House.
It begins thus :

“ I, Capt. William Dampier, of London, Mariner, being
diseased and weak in body, but of sound and perfect
mind and memory (praised be Gk)d therefore) considering
the frailty and uncertainty of this transitory life, and
that as nothing is more certain than Death, so nothing
is more uncertain than the time of Man’s dissolution,
do therefore make and ordain this my last will and testa-

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i4.i

ment in manner following, viz: first and principally I
recommend my soul into the hands of Almighty God,
my Creator, hoping by and through the merits, death
and passion of my ever blessed Redeemer, to enjoy
eternall life ; and my body I commit to the earth to be
decently buried at the discretion of my executrix, herein-
after named ; and as touching that worldly estate where-
with it has pleased God to bless me . .

And he then proceeds to will that his estate be divided
into ten equal parts, nine of which are to go to his
cousin, “ Grace Mercer, of London, spinster,” and one
part to his “ loving brother, George Dampier, of Porton,
near Breadport, Dorset.” All his “ goods and house-
hold stuff,” whether in the hands of Captain Newton,
“ of Eagle Court, in the Strand,” or of Thomas Jones,
or elsewhere, went to Grace Mercer.

You cannot sentimentalize over Dampier — ^not even
if you have grown to like and admire him as much as I
have in the past few months. He himself would have
resented it as an intrusion. He had a sort of natural
delicacy of mind, an “ exquisite refinement,” as Coleridge
says ; so that I can imagine nothing more distasteful
to him than the kind of pen-picture one is tempted to
draw — the mighty voyager, the greatest sailor of his age
brought to a stand at last, the grizzled head that has
felt the suns of every continent in the world, from the
West Indies to Cochin China, bowed feebly over the
parchment, while his shaking fingers, probably guided
by a woman’s hand, seek to add his signature to the last
words he will ever write. But he does not want us
there ; and we, who owe so much to him, and the
generations yet unborn who will read his incomparable
Voyages with delight, can at least respect his feelings.
Let us softly close the door ! There is no more to say
about the life of William Dampier, except that he died

WILLIAM DAMPIER

242

early in March, ^ I7i5) ^.nd was buried no one knows
where.

But of Dampier, the writer, there are still a few words
to say. There never was a more difficult writer to edit,
and it is quite impossible that in the few passages which
I have been able to quote from his works — though
carefully chosen, and all of them highly characteristic —
any really adequate idea of his extraordinarily high quality
can have been conveyed to the reader. Harris, one of
his early editors, made the absurd mistake of regarding
Dampier as “ prolix ” and even “ obscure,” simply
because he was long (Harris prefers Funnell, who is
“ better digested ” and “ may be read with more satis-
faction ” !). He accordingly gets to work on Dampier
with the pruning-knife, with the result that all the
charming, convincing detail, which is the very secret of
his genius, disappears, leaving a bare skeleton of narra-
tive. That is a difficulty (though Harris never saw it)
which must confront everyone who attempts to write a
biography of Dampier. It has been my object to tell
the story of his life, not to summarize his writings ; and
I have accordingly endeavoured to keep that story in its
proper proportions, not allowing undue space to any
one episode merely because he himself has described it
at length.

To appreciate him as a writer, therefore, it is necessary
to turn to his books, for they cannot be cut or skipped
or edited without losing their flavour. In a sense they
are the most revealing part of him. When we think
that the best thing he ever wrote was produced in the
intervals of a buccaneering expedition ; when we picture
him studying a flower or a bird, or taking his observations
which were presently to recast the map of the Pacific,
while serving as a foremast hand among a crowd of
drunken, brawling sailors, we appreciate for the first
^ His will was proved on the 23rd.

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243

time what he might have done for literature and science
if Fate had cast him for an easier part in early life. He
lived at the very moment when his special talents were
most in demand. It was during his early manhood that
Charles II sent Greenville Collins on a seven years’ tour
in a yacht, in order that the first decent chart might be
made of the British Isles ! James II was equally inter-
ested in navigation. Yet Dampier, at the very time
when he might have been enjoying this high patronage,
was proving himself the best hydrographer of his age in
circumstances which could hardly have been more dis-
couraging. His appeal is not so obvious as that of
Woodes Rogers, for instance ; he has not the profes-
sional sparkle of Defoe ; he is emphatically a writer
who must be read — lived with for a while. And this
applies particularly to his notes on animal and plant life,
which are quite delightful to read, but disconcertingly
difficult to quote with effect. I cannot improve on Mr.
Masefield’s language. “ Dampier’s work,” he says,
“ has this supreme merit, that it surveys the lesser
kingdoms with a calm, equable, untroubled and delighted
raion.”

It has been said, on the one hand, that Dampier got
bis better-educated friends to write-— or at least edit —
bis books for him, and then took the credit ; and, on
:he other, that Defoe took his ideas, and even his style,
Tom Dampier, and rewarded him with sneers instead of
:hanks. Neither charge bears much examination. I
aave already touched upon the first. Dampier may have
;aken advice. He had not the slightest idea that he
:ould “ write.” He never dreamed that his books would
■ank as literature. But no one can now read a page
jf his writings without feeling that the style — ^no less
:han the facts — ^is his own.

As for Defoe, it is impossible— or I, at any rate, have
bund it impossible — ^to discover any passage in his

WILLIAM DAMPIER

244 -

voluminous works which can fairly be said to have been
“ cribbed ” from Dampier. It is, indeed, an imperti-
nence to suggest that he would need to “ crib ” in this
literal sense. But he did go to Dampier — and to Woodes
Rogers and to all the buccaneer chroniclers — for his
“ plots.” That was inevitable, and perfectly justifiable.
The one passage in Dampier’s writings which seems to
have made a profound impression upon him was that
in which our hero, expecting every moment to be
drowned during his perilous canoe voyage to Sumatra,
reflects dismally upon his wild and wandering life and
the dissolute companionship which is all that he had
known since he left the parental roof in Somersetshire.^
Defoe seizes upon that note, and makes it a kind of
leit-motif, running all the way through his greatest work,
Robinson Crusoe, and reappearing occasionally in Captain
Singleton. He is greatly indebted to Dampier for that
idea ; and of course he was indebted not only to Dampier,
but to a hundred other adventurers for his facts and his
local colour. Yet he could write :

“ It has for some ages been thought so wonderful a
thing to sail the tour or circle of the globe, that when
a man has done this mighty feat he presently thinks it
deserves to be recorded, like Sir Francis Drake’s. So
as soon as men have acted the sailor, they come ashore
and write books of their voyage, not only to make a
great noise of what they have done themselves, but,
pretending to show the way to others to come after them,
they set up for teachers and chart-makers to posterity.
Though most of them have had this misfortune, that
whatever success they have had in the voyage they have
had very little in the relation, except it be to tell us that
a seaman, when he comes to the press, is pretty much

^ See above, page 134.

SLIPS HIS CABLE 245

out of his element, and that a very good sailor may make
but a very indifferent author.” ^

Whether or not that was aimed at Dampier personally —
and it rather looks like it — it was, in the circumstances,
a shabby, ungentlemanly sneer. But whatever else may
be said about this great and original genius, no one ever
accused him of being a gentleman ! The fact that he
had “ lifted ” one or two ideas from Dampier certainly
would not predispose him to gratitude.

I am hardly competent to discuss the scientific value
of Dampier’s books. Admiral Burney, writing more
than a century ago,^ observed ; “ It is not easy to name
another voyager or traveller who has given more useful
information to the world ; to whom the merchant and
mariner are so much indebted, or who has communicated
his information in a more unembarrassed and intelligible
manner. And this he has done in a style perfectly
unassuming, equally free from affectation and from the
most distant appearance of invention.” So every sailor
has thought of him during two centuries. Cook and
Philip Carteret, Howe and Nelson have agreed in praising
his Discourse on Winds^ and other notes on hydrography,
and in recommending them to the attention of young
officers. Like his natural history notes, they are full
and informative, without ever being dull. And I cannot
resist the temptation to give just one more quotation
from Dampier’s writings, which affords an excellent
example of his manner, when seeking to illustrate a
point of seamanship :

“ If after the Mizan is hail’d up and furled, if then
the ship will not wear, we must do it with some Head-

^ Defoe’s New Voyage Round the World,

2 A Chronological History of the Discoveries in the South Sea or Pacific
Ocean, B7 Admiral James Burney. London; 1803-7.

WILLIAM DAMPIER

246

sail, which yet sometimes puts us to our shifts. As I
was once in a very violent storm, sailing from Virginia,
mentioned in my Voyage Round the Worlds we scudded
before the Wind and Sea some time, with only our bare
Poles ; and the ship, by the mistake of him that con’d,
broached to, and lay in the Trough of the Sea ; which
then went so high that every Wave threatened to over-
whelm us. And indeed if any of them had broke in on
our Deck, it might have foundered us. The master,
whose fault this was, raved liked a Madman, and called
for an Axe to cut the Mizan Shrouds, and turn the
Mizan mast overboard ; which indeed might have been
an expedient thing to bring her to her course ; the
Captain was also of his Mind. Now our Mainyard and
Foreyard were lowered upon a Port-last, as we call it,
that is down pretty nigh the Deck, and the Wind blew
so fierce that we did not dare to shew any Head sail,
for they must have blown away if we had, neither could
all the men in the ship have furled them again ; there-
fore we had no hope of doing it that way. I was at
this time on the Deck with some others of our Men ;
and among the rest one Mr. John Smallbone, who was
the main instrument at that time of saving us. Come,
said he to me, let us go a little way up the Fore Shrouds,
it may be that that may make the Ship wear ; for I have
been doing it before now. He never tarried for an
Answer, but run forward presently, and I followed him.
We went up the Shrouds Half-mast up, and there we
spread abroad the Flaps of our Coats, and presently the
ship wore. I think we did not stay there above 3
Minutes before we gain’d our point and came down
again ; but in this time the Wind was got into our
Mainsail, and had blown it loose ; and tho’ the Main-
yard was down a Port-last and our Men were got on
Deck as many as could lye one by another, besides the
deck full of men, and all striving to furl that Sail, yet

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2+7

we could not do it, but were forced to cut it all along
by the Head rope and so let it fall down on the Deck.”

Reference has already been made in Chapter IX to
Dampier’s keen interest in the problem of the variations
of the compass, and to the importance of his observations
on this point. While on the “ Roebuck,” it will be
remembered, he compiled an elaborate table of varia-
tions, with dates ; but, while offering a few comments
of his own, he declined, with his usual modesty, to lay
down any cut-and-dried theory, preferring to leave the
decision to the scientists, for whom he always shows so
much respect. Admiral Smyth, a recognized authority,
makes the comment that, “ though the local magnetic
attraction in ships had fallen under the notice of seamen,
he [Dampier] was among the first to lead the way to
its investigation, since the facts that ‘ stximbled ’ him at
the Cape of Good Hope, respecting the variations of the
compass, excited the mind of Flinders, his ardent
admirer, to study the anomaly.” Speaking generally of
Dampier’s writings, Smyth adds that “ his sterling sense
enabled him to give the character without the strict
forms of science to his faithful delineations and physical
suggestions ; and inductive inquirers have rarely been
so much indebted to any adventurer whose pursuits were
so entirely remote from the subjects of their inquiry.”

About fifty years after Dampier’s death, a critic^ of
Boswell’s Tour to Corsica remarked unkindly (and very
foolishly) that the book was a good example of how
“ any fool may write a most valuable book by chance,
if he will only tell us what he heard and saw with
veracity.” No doubt much the same kind of thing was
said about Dampier in some of the coffee-houses. But
we, who are confronted with more new books of travel
every month than the eighteenth century was accustomed

1 Qta-Y-

WILLIAM DAMPIER

248

to see in five years, know that the truth is far otherwise.
We know that the travelled fool never manages to see
and hear those things that we wish to be told about ;
or, if he does, he tells of them without a trace of that
inspired veracity which is so different from mere
accuracy, and consequently leaves us cold. We know
that it is not so easy as it sounds to take your readers
with you in spirit to a country they have never seen,
and keep them as pleased and excited as though they
were seeing it all for themselves. And if you con-
tinually interrupt your narrative in order to discuss
technical points of navigation, we know that you will
require literary gifts of a very high order, if you are
going to score a popular success with your book — as
Dampier did. In the long list of English travel-writers,
from the best of Hakluyt, Coryat and the eighteenth
century to the more studied manner of the Victorians
and the brilliant impressionism of to-day, a man must
be of exceptional genius to take a high place. Dampier
is probably in the first half-dozen. As a travel-writer
alone, his name deserves to be known wherever our
language is spoken.

But I close as I began. If his voyages of discovery
had been less decisive than they were, if his notions of
hydrography had been all mistaken, if his prose had
lacked the natural elegance and virility which so dis-
tinguishes it and had approximated more to the style of
plain narrative — even then his story would have been
tremendously worth telling. He crowded enough inci-
dent for a dozen adventure books into almost any month
of his life, and gave it the keen tang of truth which most
adventure books so deplorably lack. Indeed he lived
adventure books, and every modern boy between the ages
of sixteen and sixty ought to know of him, and read
him, and be thankful. Simply to follow the story of
his career is to get an almost personal contact with those

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249

Stirring times, of the wild life of the buccaneers in the
west, and the romantic beauty of the Spice Islands in
the east. No one who has not done it can understand.
It was because Dampier’s career was so typical of this
adventurous phase in human life, now lost for ever —
because it was so typical^ not because it or he was excep-
tional, though in many ways they were — ^that I have
found his story so fascinating. If there are any dull
pages in this book, it is my fault, not Dampier’s.

AUTHORITIES

Anon. The Voyages and Adventures of Capt. Bartholomew Sharp.
London, 1684.

Bowen, Frank C. The Sea : Its History and Romance. London, 1924.

Burney, Admiral James. A chronological history of the discoveries in
the South Sea or Pacific Ocean. London, 1 803-7.

Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series : “ unbound papers.”

Clark Russell, W. William Dampier. London : Macmillan (English
Men of Action), 1889,

Cooke, Edward. A Voyage to the South Seas. London, 1712.

Corbett, Sir Julian. Editorial notes on the Dartmouth Maps of the
Battle of the Texel.

Courts-Martial. Official Minutes. Public Record Office.

Cowley, C. Manuscript journal. Sloane Collection, No. 54.

Cox, J. Manuscript journal. Sloane Collection, No. 49.

Dampier, Wm.

A New Voyage. London : Knapton, 1697.

Voyages and Discoveries. London ; Knapton, 1699.

A Voyage to New Holland, Part L London : Knapton, 1703.

A Voyage to New Holland, Part II. London : Knapton, 1709.

A Vindication. London, 1707.

Defoe, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe, Captain Singleton, etc.

De Lussan. Journal of Le Sieur Ravenau de Lussan. Paris, 1689.
English translation, London, 1699.

Esquemeling, J. The Buccaneers of America. English translation,
1684-5.

Evelyn, John. Diary. See also his Numismata, London, 1699.

Funnell, W. a Voyage Round the World. London: Knapton,
1707.

1 AU Dampicr’s travel writings mentioned in the text, including A Discourse on
Winds^ A Voyage to Tonquzn, etc., are contained jn one pr other of these volumes.

250

AUTHORITIES 251

Gosse, Philip. The Pirates’ Who’s Who. London; Dulau, 1924.
My Pirate Library. London, 1926.

Gray, Sir Albert. Dampier’s “New Voyage Round the World.”
With an Introduction by Sir Albert Gray, K.C.B., K.G., Pres, of
the Hakluyt Society. London : The Argonaut Press, 1927.

Hacke, William. A Collection of Original Voyages. London, 1699.

Harris, John, D.D. (and Campbell). Navigantium atque Itinerantium.
London, 1744.

Kerr, Robert, A General History and Collection of Voyages. London,
1811-24.

Lang, Andrew. Essays in Little. London : Longmans, Green & Co.
Mahan, Admiral. The Influence of Sea Power upon History.

Major, R. H. Early Voyages to Terra Australis. London, 1859.

Manwaring, G. E. Article in “ The Mariner’s Mirror,” 1924 : The
Dress of British Seamen.

Masefield, John. Editorial notes to “ Dampier’s Voyages.” London :
Grant Richards, 1906.

Pepys, Samuel. Diary and Correspondence.

Ringrose, B. The Buccaneers of America, vol. 2. From the original
journal written by Mr. Basil Ringrose, gent. London, 1684. The
original MS. is in the Sloane Collection, No. 3820.

Rogers, Dr. B. M. H. Articles in “ The Mariner’s Mirror ” (Journal
of the Society for Nautical Research). Vols. 10 and ii.

Sharp, Bartholomew. Manuscript journal. Sloane Collection, No. 46 a.

Shelvocke, Capt. George. A Voyage Round the World. London,
1726.

Smyth, Rear-Admiral. Articles in the “ United Service Journal and
Magazine,” Parts iii and iv, 1 837.

Wafer, Lionel. A New Voyage and Description, etc. London:
Knapton, 1699.

Welbe, John. Answer to the Vindication. London, i7^7*

WooDEs Rogers. A Cruising Voyage Round the World. London,
1712.

INDEX

Aborigines, Australian, 127, 174?
175 *

Achin, 132, 135, 140.

Alacranes Islands, 40.

Alegranze, 162.

Alvaredo, battle of, 54.

Amboina, massacre of, 17.

** Ambrose,” a buccaneer, 129 et seq.
Anaconda snake, 170.

Angie de Keys, entertainment at, 215.
Anne, Queen, 187, 202, 220.

Antony Caen’s island, 177.

Arack (drink), 119.

Arcbembo, Captain, 91.

Arica, 78, 79, 82, 192.

Armadillo ships, 73, 77-
Ascension Island, rescue from, 18 1 ;
shipwreck at, 180.

Australia, aborigines of, 127, 1745
arrival at, 127, 172 5 departure
from, 175 ; interest in, 155 ; lack
of water in, 175.

Avery, the Grand Pirate,” i66.

Babet, John, 207, 208, 212, 214, 218.
” Bachelor’s Delight,” 10 1, 103.
Baffin’s Bay, i.

Bahia, description of, 168, 169.

Bailey, Rev. M. R., vii.

Barbadoes, 28, 47.

Barnaby, midshipman, 164.

Batavia, 180.

“ Batchelor,” 232.

Beef Island, 48 et seq.

Bellhash, master of the “ St, George,”
196, 200, 201.

Bencoolen, 142 5 flight from, 143 $
governor of, 179.

Blanquila, 96.

Board of Longitude, 2.

Bond, English renegade, 100, 108.
Borthwick, Dr. William, 157, 163,
166, 184.

Brand, James, captain’s clerk, 157,
164.

Buccaneers, acquire taste for choco-
late, 80, 227 ; dress of, 68, 69 ;
early exploits of, 59 et seq . ; flags
of, 61 ; intelligence department of,
91 ; leadership among, 75, 81 j
pirates and, 57, 61, 62 ; rum run-
ners and, 63 ; Sabbatarian prin-
ciples of, 76, 8r 5 valentines and, 102,
232.

Buckenham, Captain, 44.

Burney, Admird, 245.

Cachao, 136, 137.

Cackney, Rev. Henry, 12, 13.
Campbell, Duncan, 47.

Campeachy Bay, 33, 42-
Campeachy Town, sack of, 59.

Cape Horn, 102.

Cape Verde Islands, 17, 99, 165, 189,
213.

Carib Indians, 29, 30.

Cartagena, Our Lady of, 94.

Cash, Giles, 207, 212.

Chadwick, R, 157, 183.

Charles ii. King, 2, 113, 243.

“ Cinque Ports,” 189 seq.
Clippington, mate on the “ St.

George,” 196, 198.

“ Content,” 28 et seq.

Cook, Captain Edmund, 64, 69, 73,
81, 84.

Cook, Captain James, 3, 7, 114, 1541

253

WILLIAM DAMPIER

254

Cook, Captain John, 84, 98, 103, 104,
195.

Cooke, Captain Edward, 205, 212,
214, 217, 222, 228 etseq,i 250.

Coppinger, Herman, 124, 126, 129,
140.

Corbett, Sir Julian, 23, 25, 250.

Corsley, solicitor, 237, 238.

Court-martial, Dampier’s, 182 ; evid-
ence in, 183 ; points at issue, 185 ;
verdict in, 186.

Courtney, Captain Stephen, 208, 209,
212 et seq,^ 230, 237, 238.

Cowley, William Ambrosia, 98 et seq,y
zso.

Cox, John, 56, 66, 70, 77 et seq.^ 250.

Coxon, J., 64, 69, 74, 75, 90, 91.

Cura^oa, 95.

Customs, Dampier’s post in, 150.

“Cygnet,” 105, in, 115, 118, 142;
Dampier leaves, 130.

d’ Acosta, John, 51.

Dampier, Ann, mother of William
Dampier, ii etseq,

Dampier, George, father of William
Dampier, 11 et seq.

Dampier, George, brother of William
Dampier, ii, 12, i6, 18, 27, 146.

Dampier, Judith, wife of William, 63,
144, ^39-

Dampier, William, ancestry of, ti et
seq. 5 appearance of, 3, 6 ; becomes
privateer, 53 ; birthplace of, 10 5
buccaneers and, 5 ; character of,
4 et seq. ; comparison with Defoe,
134 ; as controversialist, 149 5
court-martial of, 182, 185, 186 ;
death of, 241 ; Defoe and, 243 ;
departure in the “ Roebuck,” 162 5
education of, 15 ; estimate of, 153 j
explores New Guinea, 177 et seq. 5
goes to sea, 15, 16 ; joins buc-
caneers, 42 5 lands on Nicobar,
129 ; last days of, 239 5 last voyage
of, 203 et seq. ; last will of, 240 ;
legal action against, 201 $ marriage
of, 63 ; nature notes of, 46, 170,

172, 243 ; opinion of the Indians,
52, 87 ; pilot on Swan’s ship, 115 ;
“ Pirate and Hydrographer,” 4 ;
post in Customs, 150 ; publishes his
Voyages^ 149 5 quarrels on his ships,
190 ; reaches Australia, 172 5 re-
crosses the Darien Isthmus, 85, 89 ;
reputation with Spaniards, 202,
204 ; returns to England, 144, 201,
233 ; sails for the W. Indies, 28 ;
sails with Cook, 99 ; sails in the
“ St. George,” 188 ; scientific re-
cognition of, 150, 203, 204; sea
knowledge of, 115 ; share of profits
in Woodes Rogers’s voyage, 205,
237 ; at battle of the Texel, 23 ;
trading voyages in East, 142 ;
treatment of Lieut. Fisher, 168,
169 5 uniqueness of, 3 ; his views
on pirates, 166 ; visits Australia,
127 5 visits logwood-cutters, 36 et
seq . ; in Virginia, 96, 97 ; voyage
to Tonquin, 136 j weaknesses of,
4, 5, 6 ; as writer, 242.

Dampier Land, 127.

Dampier Strait, 178.

Darien Indians, 68, 75.

Darien, Isthmus of, 85 5 marches
across, 68, 87 seq.

Davis, Edward, 8, 98, loi, 104, in
et seq.

Davis, John, 59.

D’Estrees, Admiral, 19, 22, 24, 95.

Defoe, Daniel, 134, 243, 250.

De Lussan, 109, 250.

De Ruyter, 19 etseq.

Desertions, method of stopping, 128.

Dingo, 127, 175.

Discourse on Winds ^ 47, 152, 203, 245.

“Discovery,” i,

Dover, Captain Thomas, 206, 212,
221, 222, 224.

Dropsy, cure of, 117.

“ Duchess,” 206, 208, 209, 213 ;

mutiny on, 214.

“ Duke,” 206, 208 et seq . ; crew of,
207, 208, 209 ; first mutiny on,
212 5 officers on, 206.

INDEX

Dutch, attitude towards English in
the East, 17, 140, 176 ; peace
treaty with, 27 ; wars, et seq.
Dysentery, methods of curing, 121,
140.

Earning, Captain, 16, 17.

East Coker, vii, 10, ii, 12, 14, 18, 27,
a8, 39.

East Indiamen, arming of, 16.

Eaton, Captain, 102 et seq.y 199.
Esquemeling, John, 58 et seq., 250.
Evelyn, John, 6, 15 1.

“ Fame,’* 187.

Fisher, Lieut. George, 157 et seq . ;
character of, 159 ; at court-
martial of Dampier, 183, 184 5
quarrels with Dampier, vi, 159, 168.
Fishook, Captain, 32.

Flamingo, description of, 99.

Fry, Lieut. Robert, 206, 212, 218,
219.

Funnell, William, 188 et seq,, 21 1, 250 5
on Portuguese, 189.

Galapagos Islands, 104, 113.

“ George,** a logwood -cutter, 47-
George, Prince of Denmark, 187, 188.
GlendaU, Lieut., 207, 225.

Gold, romance of, 56.

Gopson, 89, 92, 93.

Gore, Rev. Richard, 12, 13.

Gorgona Island, 78, 224.

Gosse, Philip, 109, 251.

Grande, island of^ 214.

Gray, Sir Albert, vii, 5, 251.

Grigson, James, 159, 161, 184.
Gronet, Captain, loS.

Guam Island, 119, 232.

Guayaquil, attacks on, 106, 221.

Hacke, William, v, 65, 75 et seq,
(notes), 82, 1 13, 251.

Hall, Robert, 129 et seq.

Halley, E., 162, 171.

Hammocks,

Harris, Dr. John, 205, 242, 251.

^55

Harris, Captain Peter, sen., 64, 69, 74,
75, 122.

Harris, Captain Peter, jun., 105, 108.
Helyar, Cary, 32.

Helyar, Colonel, 12, 28, 32.

Hewet, privateer captain, 50, 53.
Hingson, 89, 92, 93.

Hispaniola (Haiti), 31, 57.

Hobby, Captain, 64.

Holmes, Sir Robert, 18.

Hubock, Captain Jack,*’ 35,

Hudsel, Captain, 33 seq.

Hughes, Jacob, 157, 159, 161, 162,
165, 172, 174, 176, 177, 179, 181,
183, 184.^

Huxford, Lieut., 190.

Jamaica, 16, 28, 31 et seq,

James ii. King, 19, 21, 113, 130, 203.
Jeoly. See Painted Prince-
Jigger worm, 47.

“John and Martha,” r6, 17, 18.
Journal, beginnings of, 29.

Juan Fernandez, island of, 103, 19 1,
217 et seq.

Kangaroo-rat, 172.

Kent, Captain, 28 et seq,

Kidd, Captain, 63, in.

King Golden Cap, 70, 72.

Knapton, James, 148, 240.

Knight, John, 157, 183.

Ladrones, 1 18.

Lang, Andrew, 57? ^ 51 *

La Serena, attack on, 80.

Laughton, Prof. Sir J. K., vi, 12,
Leon, attack on, 109.

Little Providence, island of, 177.
Logwood-cutters, 34 et seq,, 45,
L’Olonois, 60, 62,

Longitude, Board of, 2.

“ Loyal Merchant,” 63.

Madras, 142.

Mahan, Admiral, 20 n,, 21, 251.
Manila ship, 118, 198, 199, 220, 223
et seq.

256 WILLIAM

Manwaring, G. E., vii, 69 251.

“ Marquis,” 222 et seq*

Martin, Captain C., 199.

Masefield, John, vi, 105, 127, i44» 172,
200, 243, 251.

Massacre of Amboina, 17.

Master’s Log of “ Roebuck,” vi, 16 1, !
176.

Mercer, Grace, 236, 239, 240, 241.
Mindanao, 120 ; customs of, 12 1 ;
plants of, 121.

Montague, Charles, 149, 15^.

Morgan, Sir Henry, 36, 43, 60 et seq,
Morgan, supercargo, 190, 200, 201.
Morrice, Price, 47.

Mosquito Indians, 86, 87.

Murray, Thomas, 3, 150.

Naval Architecture, 20.

New Britain, discovery of, 178.

New Guinea, 177 5 natives of, 177*
New Holland. See Australia.

Newton, Captain, 239, 240.

Nicaragua Town, sack of, 59.

Nicobar Islands, 128 ; canoe journey

from, 133. _ « « t. 1 »

Norwood, boatswain on Roebuck,
159, 161, 184.

One-Bush-Key, settlement at, 35
seq,

Orford, Lord, 152, 155, 157> ^^9-

Our Lady of Cartagena, 94.

Page, William, 214.

Paine, Philip, gunner of the ” Roe-
buck,” 157, 181, 183.

Painted Prince, 143 et seq., 15 1-
Panama, attack on, 73.

Payta, capture of, 106.

Penton, carpenter’s mate, 180, 183.
Penzer, N. M., vii.

Peralta, Don, 74, 77.

Peron Peninsula, 172.

Pepys Island, 113.

Pepys, Samuel, 6, 2r etseq., 151.
Pickering, Captain, 191.
Pieces-of-eight, 79, 223.

DAMPIER

Pines, Island of, 40.

Pirates, 166 5 Algerian, 16 ; and
buccaneers, 57.

Plantain, 121.

Plate, island of, 86.

I Plunder, agreements about, 225.

Porto Bello, 65, 67.

Portuguese, relations with English,
16, 99, 131, 168, 215.

Pressed men, 21.

Prize money, 224, 234.

Puebla Nueva, unsuccessful attack on,
76 ; sacked, 109.

Pulling, Captain John, 187 et seq.

Puna, capture of, 106, 200 ; sack of,
200.

Raja Laut, 121 et seq.

Read, John, izj^etseq., 131, 142, 155-
“ Revenge,” 99, 112.

Ringrose, Basil, 63, 65, 73, 77, 78, 84,
98, 251 ; death of, 117-
Robinson Crusoe, 103, 134, 196, 220,
244.

” Roebuck,” vi, 2, 152, 154, 157 5
bad condition of, 180 ; crew of,
157 5 delays in sailing of, et
seq. 5 departure of, 162 ; descrip-
tion of, 157 ; master’s log of, vi,
161, 176 ; sinking of, 180.

Rogers, Dr. B, M. H., 201, 235, 239.
Rogers. See Woodes Rogers.

« Royal Prince,” 18 et seq., 179.

Kma, passim \ rum punch, 38, 41,
166.

Rumbold, John, 157, 183.
Rum-ruianers and buccaneers, 63.
Rupert, Prince, 19, 22 et seq.

Russell, logwood-cutter, 44.

Russell, W* Clark, 2, 250.

«St. George,” 187, 188, 190, 201 5
desertions from, 198 et seq. ; repairs
to, 197 ; voyage of, 188 et seq.

St. George’s Channel, 178.

St. Helena, island of, 144.

St. lago, island of, 17, 100.

St. Lucia, island of, 29, 30.

INDEX

257

Santa Cruz, Teneriffe, 163.

Santa Maria, 70, 71, 193.

Santa Pecaque, defeat at, 117.

Sawkins, Captain, 5, 31, 64, 69 etseq. 5
character of, 76 ; death of, 76-
Schuchadero, capture of, 194.

Scotch East India Company, 150,
156.

Scott, Lewis, 59.

Selkirk, Alexander, 103, 19^, 196,
217 etseq.y 223 ; rescue of, 217.
Shark, recipe for boiling, 102.

Shark’s Bay, 172.

Sharp, Captain Bartholomew, v, 5, 31,
56, 61, 64 et seq., 195, 251.
Shelvocke, Captain G., 5, 70 n,, 80
198, 251.

Sherbro river, 10 1.

Shipboard, life on, 166.

Shovell, Sir Clowdisley, 159, 164, 185.
Sloane, Sir Hans, 1 50, 203, 234.
Smallbone, John, 246.

Smyth, Rear-Admiral, v et seq., 12,
38 53, 65, 182, 247, 251.

Sole Bay, battle of, 18, 19.

Southwell, Edward, 239.

Southwell, Sir Robert, 150, 203, 204.
Spaniards and English in W. Indies,
34 et seq,, 40 n.

Spanish authority in W. Indies, 16,
A' 2 'y 59 > 103 -

Spragge, Sir Edward, 18, 21 et seq.
Storm, description of, 48.

Stradling, Thomas, 191, 194, 195.
Swan, Captain, 8, 84, 102, 105 etseq,,
1 16, 1 18, 122, 124, 126.

Tasman, 155.

Teat, chief mate, 107, 115, 118 119,
123 etseq,

TeneriflFe, description of, 163.

Terra Australis, See Australia.
Terminos Lagoon, 42 et seq,

Texel, battle of the, 23.

Thacker, John, 122.

Thomas, Toby, 200,

Timor, island of, 175.

Tobago, 195,

Tonquin, 136.

Tortuga, 59, 96.

Townley, Captain, 108, 109, ii6,

Triste, island of, 34 et seq.

Tristian, Captain, 90, 98, 99.

Tromp, Admiral, 24.

Variation at sea, 162, 171, 247.

Vanbrugh, Carleton, 206, 212, 213,
217.

Vindkatim, 188, 202, 250.

Virginia, Dampier in, 96, 97.

Voyage to Campeachy, 152, 250.

Voyage to New Holland, 148, 239, 250.

Voyage to Tonquin, 136, 250.

Wafer, Lionel, 44, 63, 66, 83, 88, 89,
92 > 93 > 97 > 9^9 in, 117,

150, 156, 251.^

War of the Spanish Succession, 187.

Warner, Captain, 29 et seq.

Warships, architecture of, 20 5 crews
of, 21.

Water, lack of in Australia, 175.

Watling, Captain, 81, 82, 102.

Watson, ship’s carpenter, 176, 183,

Welbe, John, 188, 190 etseq,, 200, 21 1,
251.

Weldon, Captain, 136, 140.

Whalley, Mr., 31, 32.

White Indians, 85.

William, Prince of Orange (afterwards
William ill), 19, 130, 176, 177, 185.

Woodes Rogers, 2, 201, 204 et seq, 5
success o^ 5, 224, 234 ; tact^ of,
209, 215, 232 ; thrashes his pilot,
208 5 wounding of, 227, 231, 232.

Wright, Captain, 91, 92, 94, 96, 97.

Yanky, Captain, 91, 92, 94, 96 etseq,

“ Young Devil ” Tavern, Temple
Bar, 201.

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